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UNITEDSTATESOF AMEKICaT 



THE 



GOSPEL FOUNTAIN, 



OR THE 



ANXIOUS YOUTH MADE HAPPY. 



BY JAMES WOOD, D. D. 



" In that day there shall be a fountain opened." 
" Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells 
of salvation." 




PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 



p>Ti 



/G 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 




The Library 

of CON' 

WASHINGTON 



STEREOTYPED BY 

JESPER HARDING & SON, 

INQUIRER BUILDING, SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 027738 



PREFACE. 



The following attempt of the author to furnish 
familiar instructions to the young, on the Doctrines 
of Grace, was undertaken at the request of a valued 
friend. The mode of illustration by anecdotes was 
also suggested by him. The task has been a 
pleasing one, though performed by gas-light, and 
occupying many successive evenings, after the 
close of official duties which required his attention 
during the day. 

His aim has been to state, prove, and illustrate, 
in a brief, plain, and scriptural form, some of the 
great doctrines of the gospel, as embodied more 
fully in the Standards of the Presbyterian church. 
In order to avoid making "the book too large," as 
requested by his friend, two topics have been for 
the most part omitted, which would otherwise 
have been discussed. One is repentance^ which is 
inculcated in the gospel, in connection with faith. 
The other is adoption, which is one of the benefits 
of effectual calling, and is especially important in 
its being a guaranty of the saints' perseverance. 

C3> 



4 PREFACE. 

But as these two doctrines are not, as to their 
nature, matters of controversy between Calvinists 
and Arminians, they are merely explained inci- 
dentally and in few words, without appropriating 
to their discussion separate conversations. 

The anecdotes have been selected from persons 
of all countries, complexions, and conditions in 
life; in order to show that depraved human nature 
and the effects of divine grace, are substantially 
alike in the whole human family — the high and 
low, the learned and ignorant, the refined and un- 
cultivated. 

The author's design in quoting so much sacred 
poetry has been to make it apparent that the 
favourite songs of praise employed by millions of 
God's people, contain the substance of those doc- 
trines usually styled by Calvinists, the doctrines 
of grace; and hence that those doctrines are in 
harmony with the devotional feelings of the re- 
newed heart. 

The work is respectfully dedicated to the 
Youth of the Presbyterian Church; 
with the author's earnest prayer for their conver- 
sion to Christ, and their pious and efficient co- 
operation in doing good. 



CONTENTS. 



CONVERSATION L 

PAGS 

The Gospel Plan of Grace stated, and a notice of 
our fallen condition, 7 

CONVERSATION II. 

Concerning Christ our Redeemer, . . 42 

CONVERSATION III. 
Justification by Faith, 83 

CONVERSATION IV. 

Our moral Impotence, and the necessity of the Holy 
Spirit to renew the heart, in order to the exercise 
of faith in Christ, 119 

CONVERSATION V. 

Sanctification, 161 

1* (5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CONVERSATION VI. 

Good works, 206 

CONVERSATION VII. 
The Perseverance of the Saints, . . •'•'.« 241 
Conclusion, 293 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN, 



OR THE 



ANXIOUS YOUTH MADE HAPPY. 



CONVEKSATION I. 

THE GOSPEL PLAN OF GRACE STATED, AND A 
NOTICE OF OUR FALLEN CONDITION. 

One Sabbath evening, a sensible and se- 
rious-minded youth, whom we will call 
Henry James, said to his father, a minister 
of the gospel : What is meant by the word 
grace ? And what by the phrase, doctrines of 
grace ? You employed the term grace seve- 
ral times in your discourse this morning, 
and once or twice, the phrase, doctrines of 

C7) 



8 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

grace ; but you gave no particular explana- 
tion, thinking, no doubt, that all the con- 
gregation would understand your meaning. 

Father. I am glad, my son, to hear you 
ask these questions. But what did I say, 
that attracted your special notice ? 

Son. You said, father, that the grace of 
God is a fountain of hope and joy to lost sin- 
ners; that this fountain is opened in the gos- 
pel, and that sinners are invited to take of 
the water of life freely. You also spoke in a 
similar manner concerning the doctrines of 
grace. I think your language was that the 
doctrines of grace are wells of salvation, out 
of which anxious souls may draw an ample 
supply of peace and comfort. 

Mr. James responded : Yes, Henry, you 
have quoted correctly my ideas, and very 
nearly my words. It will afford me much 
pleasure to give you instruction on this 
momentous subject. 

THE TERM GRACE DEFINED. 

And first, the word grace. The term 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 



9 



grace, as used in the Scriptures, is the oppo- 
site of debt. It is favour bestowed on the 
receiver as a gratuity, without his having 
rendered any service to place the donor un- 
der obligation to hirn. A coloured candi- 
date for the ministry, in one of the southern 
States, when under examination for licen- 
sure, was asked by the examiner : What is 
grace ? He replied, " Grace is what I call 
receiving something for nothing." 

This is a capital answer as far as it goes. 
But to render the definition complete, it re- 
quires the further idea, that the receiver is 
positively unworthy of such regard. In 
common language, indeed, we sometimes 
employ the word grace without connecting 
with it the idea of unworthiness or demerit. 
But the grace of God towards us, always in- 
cludes the idea, not only of favour bestowed 
gratuitously, t. e., without his receiving any 
compensation in return, but bestowed on 
those who are guilty and under his wrath, 
because this is the condition of all mankind 
in their present fallen state. In the full 



10 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

gospel sense of the term, therefore, grace 
includes pardon and salvation, bestowed on 
wicked and hell-deserving sinners. Hence 
the gospel is called " the grace of God that 
bringeth salvation." 

The doctrines of grace, continued Mr. 
James, relate to the method by which God 
bestows his pardoning and saving mercy 
upon sinners, through the Lord Jesus Christ. 
A brief statement of the most important of 
these doctrines is given by the apostle Paul 
in Bph. i. 7, and ii. 8—10. " In whom we 
have redemption through his blood, the for- 
giveness of sins, according to the riches of 
his grace. For by grace are ye saved, 
through faith, and that not of yourselves: it 
is the gift of God : not of works, lest any 
man should boast. For we are his work- 
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works, which God hath before ordained that 
we should walk in them." These passages 
contain those great and glorious truths which 
lie at the foundation of all human hope. I 
will state them in detail. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 11 

THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE ENUMERATED. 

These passages, and many other texts, as- 
suming that we are in a fallen and ruined 
condition, teach, 

1. That a Saviour has been provided for 
us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

2. That we obtain salvation, not by the 
deeds of the law, but by faith in Christ. 

3. That our union with Christ by faith is 
not produced by our own strength, but by 
the power of God, who renews our hearts by 
his Spirit, and persuades and enables us to 
embrace Christ as our only Eedeemer. 

4. That true faith will purify and sanctify 
the soul. 

5. That inward holiness, or sanctification, 
will be manifested by corresponding good 
works ; though good works, like sanctifica- 
tion, have their root in faith. 

6. That if we are genuine believers in 
Christ, and adopted into his family, we shall 
receive daily supplies of divine grace to per- 



12 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

severe in holiness, until our salvation is com- 
plete, and we are received into heaven. 

7. That all these acts of grace and mercy 
towards us, as thus manifested in our own 
complete redemption, are, from first to last, 
the result of God's benevolent and sovereign 
purpose, ordaining us to salvation, through 
these several preparatory means. 

All these great doctrines are distinctly ex- 
pressed or implied in the few verses just 
quoted from the epistle to the Ephesians. 
They are also taught in many other parts of 
the Scripture. Indeed, they pervade the 
whole Bible. They constitute the essence 
of Christianity. And I assure you that all 
which I asserted concerning their character 
and tendency to inspire hope and impart hap- 
piness, has been verified by the experience 
of God's people ; and further, that whatever 
may be your own views and feelings con- 
cerning them now, if you shall truly under- 
stand and appreciate them, and be led to em- 
brace Christ who is the centre and substance 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 13 

of these doctrines, you will find them to be 
unfailing sources of spiritual comfort. 

Henry listened to his father's statement 
and remarks with fixed attention, and then 
said : I have not proposed these questions, 
father, merely for general information, but 
for my own personal benefit. I feel unhap- 
py, and am anxious to obtain relief. When 
the hymn was sung to-day, beginning with 
the words, 

u There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ;" 

I thought I would have given the whole 
world, if I could have adopted as my own, 
the latter part of that hymn, closing with 
the lines, 

" Then in a nobler, sweeter song, 
I'll sing thy power to save, 
"When this poor lisping, stammering tongue 
Lies silent in the grave." 

If the grace of God is a fountain of joy, 
I desire to know what it is, and also what 
those doctrines of grace are which consti- 
tute the divine plan of salvation. I have 



14 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

felt thus, in some degree, for some time past; 
but more to-day, than ever before. 

Mr. James replied: I sympathize with 
you, Henry, in your distress of mind, and 
shall be glad to relieve you. But I wish 
you to understand that I regard the single 
object of your obtaining relief from mental 
anxiety to be far less important than your 
obtaining forgiveness of sin, and that you 
ought to feel so too. It is not wrong for 
you to desire strongly to be more happy ; 
but you should have a still stronger desire 
to become holy. Sin is an offence against 
God, and your first anxiety should be to 
obtain his mercy and grace. Sin also de- 
files the soul, and in connection with your 
desire to be delivered from its guilt and 
condemnation, you ought to feel a deep con- 
cern to be cleansed from its pollution. If 
you turn to Zechariah xiii. 1. you will per- 
ceive that the gospel " fountain is opened 
for sin and uncleanness." By coming to this 
fountain, and partaking of the grace of 
Christ, which is signified thereby, you will 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 15 

experience joy, and hence, I properly called 
the grace of God a fountain of joy. Yet 
your first and chief motive should not be 
comfort of mind, but deliverance from sin. 
This, too, is the only path to true happiness. 
u There is no peace, saith my God, to the 
wicked." 

I wish, therefore, to direct your thoughts 
to the serious consideration of your fallen 
and ruined state as a sinner. I will say 
something also, about the peace and joy of 
religion. But the great matter which con- 
cerns you above all others, is to learn that 
the gospel fountain is opened, as I said be- 
fore, for sin and uncleanness, and, in order to 
appreciate its sanctifying and saving bene- 
fits, you must feel sensible of the sinfulness 
and corruption of your moral nature; never 
till then will you come to this fountain, 
even though it be opened ever so plainly 
before you. Penitent and believing sinners, 
and they alone, are made partakers of gos- 
pel grace. Such and such only, in the 
words of Isaiah, " with joy will draw water 



16 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

oat of the wells of salvation." Isaiah xii. 3. 
Let me then ask you a few questions con- 
cerning your own views and feelings on this 
important subject. 

SALVATION BY GRACE IMPLIES A PRECEDING 
STATE OF SIN AND MISERY. 

Henry James appeared very serious dur- 
ing his father's remarks. I am willing, 
father, said he, to answer any questions you 
may think proper to ask ; but I desire to 
state beforehand, that you have received an 
incorrect impression from my language, if 
you suppose I meant to express nothing 
more than a wish for relief, regardless of its 
nature. Though I do not feel as deep a con- 
viction of my sins as I ought, yet I know 
that I am a sinner, and my anxiety of mind 
proceeds, I think, in a great measure, from 
this cause. But my mind is perplexed with 
some difficulties on this subject, which I shall 
esteem it a great favour to have solved. 

Mr. James remarked : One of the ques- 
tions I intended to ask you, was, whether 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 17 

you feel convinced of your guilt and ruin 
as a sinner. This you have just answered. 
And, as the difficulties to which you allude 
may relate to some, or all of the other points 
on which I designed to question you, I will 
modify my proposal, and instead of asking 
questions, I will first hear and answer those 
difficulties which occupy and disturb your 
mind. But I will remark further, before 
you proceed, that you cannot appreciate the 
grace of God as revealed in the gospel, or 
clearly understand and heartily approve the 
doctrines of grace, unless you are inwardly 
convinced of )^our sinfulness, and your ab- 
solute need of a better righteousness than 
your own. The very idea of grace supposes 
unworthiness in the object, and this unwor- 
thiness must be perceived and felt by us, in 
order to make us the willing and grateful 
recipients of divine mercy. "They that are 
whole, says our Saviour, need not a physi- 
cian, but they that are sick. I am not come 
to call the righteous, but sinners, to repent- 
ance ." Our Lord's meaning is, that the case 

2* 



18 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

of a sinner in seeking salvation, is like a 
diseased man. When he discovers that he is 
really and dangerously ill, he will apply 
suitable remedies, and not before. 

It is very important therefore, as a pre- 
liminary to our conversations on the doc- 
trines of grace, to settle fully in your mind 
the truth of God's word concerning our race, 
that "they are all gone aside, they are all to- 
gether become filthy, there is none that doeth 
good, no, not one." And while you consent to 
this general proposition, you must also per- 
ceive and feel the truth of this description in 
its application to yourself. I will illustrate 
this by an anecdote. 

AN EXAMPLE OF A SINNER DISCOVERING HIS 
GUILT. 

A negro on the western coast of Africa, 
once addressed the Eev. Mr. Johnson at Ee- 
gent's Town, thus : The anecdote is pecu- 
liar, and the language broken, but it expresses 
forcibly the idea I wish to convey : " Yester- 
day morning, when you preach, you show 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 19 

me that the law be our schoolmaster to bring 
us to Christ. You talk about the ten com- 
mandments. You begin at the first, and me 
say to myself, ' Me guilty !' the second, ' Me 
guilty!' the third, 'Me guilty!' the fourth, 
'Me guilty! 7 the fifth, 'Me guilty!' Then 
you say the sixth, Thou shalt not kill ; me 
say, ' Ah ! me no guilty ! me never kill 
some person.' You say, I suppose plenty 
people live here, who say, ' Me no guilty of 
that I' Me say again in my heart, ' Ah ! me 
no guilty !" Then you say ; ' Did you never 
hate any person ? Did you never wish that 
such a person, such a man, or such a woman 
was dead!' Massa, you talk plenty about 
that ; and what I feel that time I can't tell 
you. I talk in my heart, and say, 'Me the 
same person !' My heart begin to beat, me 
want to cry, my heart heave so much me 
don't know what to do. Massa, me think 
me kill ten people before breakfast ! I never 
think I so bad. Afterward you talk about 
the Lord Jesus, how he take off our sin. I 
think I stand the same like a person that 



20 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

have a big stone upon him head, and can't 
walk — want to fall down. O massa, I have 
trouble too much ; I no sleep all night. (He 
wept much.) I hope the Lord Jesus Christ 
will take my sins from me. Suppose he no 
save me, I shall go to hell for ever." 

Henry James remarked, I have perceived 
and felt in my own heart, similar convic- 
tions to those expressed by that heathen. 
My difficulties, father, do not relate to my 
actual sins, either of thought, word, or deed, 
but to original sin. 

ORIGINAL SIN, DIFFICULTIES SOLVED. 
My difficulties concerning original sin, 
said Henry, are the following : Though my 
conscience tells me, as well as God's word, 
that I am a sinner ; I am often tempted to 
excuse myself from blame, or at least to pal- 
liate my sins, by saying inwardly, that I 
cannot help sinning, because I was born with 
a sinful nature ; and from this unholy nature 
all my actual sins proceed. I cannot fully 
perceive the justice of God in bringing me 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 21 

into the world in a state of sin and condem- 
nation, while as yet I had committed no ac- 
tual transgression. For how, I ask myself, 
can it be just to condemn me for having a 
sinful nature ; since my sinful nature was 
inherited from my parents, and so back to 
Adam, whose first transgression brought sin 
into the world? 

Mr. James replied, I might dismiss this 
subject with a single remark of Newton's. 
"Many, says he, have puzzled themselves 
about the origin of evil, but I observe there 
is evil, and that there is a way to escape it, 
and with this I begin and end." I will not 
however dispose of the question in this sum- 
mary manner, but will endeavour to do what 
I can to relieve you of your difficulty. Ac- 
cording to your own statement, you do not 
think it unjust for God to condemn you for 
your sinful words, actions, feelings, and 
thoughts ; do you ? 

Henry. Oh, no, father; I know it is just to 
punish me for actual sin, whether it consists 
in wicked words and actions, or in evil 



22 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

thoughts and desires. What I say and do, 
and also what I think and feel, are my own, 
and for these I am of course accountable to 
God. 

Father. Suppose, Henry, you should 
speak or act wickedly, or should have wicked 
feelings or thoughts, through the influence 
of some other person tempting you to sin. 
Would you not in this case be guilty, and 
deserving of punishment? 

Henry. Yes, sir. The person who tempted 
me, would commit sin in tempting me ; but 
this would not free me from blame. 

Father. You are correct, my son, and 
this illustrates the sin of our first parents. 
Satan tempted Eve, and Eve tempted Adam. 
But when Adam cast the blame on the 
woman, and the woman on the serpent, that is, 
on Satan, God would not receive their ex- 
cuses as sufficient, but condemned and pun- 
ished them. 

Thus far, said Henry, I can understand ; 
but did not God condemn their posterity 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 23 

also? Please, father, explain the justice of 
this. 

Mr. James requested him to repeat the an- 
swer in the catechism, to the question, " Did 
all mankind fall in Adam's first transgres- 
sion ?" 

Henry repeated it as follows : " The cove- 
nant being made with Adam, not only for 
himself, but for his posterity, all mankind 
descending from him by ordinary generation, 
sinned in him, and fell with him in his first 
transgression." 

Mr. James remarked, I have not requested 
you to repeat this answer in the catechism, 
as authority ; but as expressing in accurate 
terms the scripture doctrine on this subject. 
This catechism contains the most excellent 
summary of christian doctrine in the world. 
Yet I do not desire you to receive any doc- 
trine as true, unless you find it taught in the 
Bible.* 

* As the catechism will be often quoted, it may be in- 
teresting to the young reader to learn, that it was com- 
posed by a committee of the Assembly of Divines, com- 



24 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

The apostle Paul's language is, " Where- 
fore, as by one man sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin, and so death passed upon 

monly styled the Westminster Assembly, and having 
been reported to that body, it received their solemn 
sanction. That Assembly consisted of one hundred and 
twenty-one divines, and thirty laymen, from England ; 
and of five commissioners from Scotland. It convened 
in 1643, by order of the British Parliament, in a part of 
the celebrated Westminster Abbey. It was composed 
of Episcopalians, Independents, or Congregationalists, and 
Presbyterians, the three principal denominations in Great 
Britain at that time. The Assembly was engaged more 
than five years and a half in preparing, discussing, and 
adopting the Confession of Faith, the larger and shorter 
Catechisms, Directory for Worship, and the Form of 
Church Government ; which with a few alterations, per- 
taining to civil government, now form "The Constitu- 
tion of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
America." The distinguished Richard Baxter, who was 
personally acquainted with most of the members, but 
was not himself one of them, says, u The divines there 
congregated, were men of eminent learning, godliness, 

ministerial abilities, and fidelity." u As far as 

I am able to judge, by all history of that kind, and by 
any other evidence left us, the christian world, since the 
days of the apostles,, had never a Synod of more excel- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 25 

all men, for that all have sinned." Again, 
" By one man's disobedience many were 
made sinners." These words you perceive 
are very similar to those in the catechism, 
and the sense, as I understand them, is the 
same. The word covenant is not used, but 
they involve a covenant transaction, usually 
called the covenant of works ; and the term 
covenant is employed by one of the proph- 
ets, (Hosea vi. 7,) by way of allusion to 
Adam ; showing that the word itself is scrip- 
tural. 

Paul's language teaches that Adam, acting 
by divine appointment, as the federal or cov- 
enant head of mankind, fell into sin, and that 

lent divines than this, and the Synod of Dort." The 
standards thus framed by that Assembly, were approved 
by the House of Commons in 1647 ; and in 1648, they 
were adopted by the General Assembly of the Church 
of Scotland. The Episcopal and Independent churches 
of England did not adopt them ; but their dissent did not 
relate to scripture doctrines, but to church government ; 
and also with regard to Episcopalians, to the directory 
for worship. The Calvinistic creed was at that time the 
common faith of the Protestant, christian world. 
3 



26 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

in his fall they were brought under condem- 
nation. The covenant of works was an ex- 
pression of divine condescension and good- 
ness, the effect of which would have been, if 
it had been kept by Adam, to bring his pos- 
terity into a still more intimate and perma- 
nent fellowship with God ; changing their 
relation from that of subjects under law, to 
one of sons and heirs of eternal life. But as 
Adam failed to keep that covenant, those 
high privileges were forfeited, and both him- 
self and his posterity were involved judi- 
cially in sin and misery. Yet they were 
not condemned solely on account of Adam's 
sin, without regard to the moral effect which 
his sin would have on them ; but as includ- 
ing such effect, viz : that they would all be 
born with corrupt natures. This is stated 
in the catechism thus ; in answer to the ques- 
tion, " Wherein consists the sinfulness of 
that estate whereinto man fell ?" " The sinful- 
ness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists 
in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of 
original righteousness, and the corruption 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 27 

of his whole nature, which is commonly 
called original sin ; together with all actual 
transgressions which proceed from it." 

The corruption of our whole nature is 
distinctly asserted in the Bible: " Behold 
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." "And were by nature? 
children of wrath ; even as others. If chil- 
dren of wrath by nature, then sinners by na- 
ture; because sin alone exposes to wrath. All 
actual transgressions are traceable to our 
corrupt nature. "Out of the heart," says our 
Lord, " proceed evil thoughts, murders, adul- 
teries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies." If the heart (which is the 
same as our moral nature) were not de- 
praved, evil thoughts and desires, and the 
wicked words and acts which flow from 
them would not occur. This corruption of 
our nature is commonly called u original or 
birth sin." 

Henry now said: May I interrupt you, 
father ? Your last sentence brings up my 
chief difficulty, which I desire to have ex- 



28 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

plained. I inherited my sinful nature from 
my parents, and they from theirs ; and so 
back to Adam. Are we accountable for 
what we inherited from our ancestors ? 

Mr. James responded : Your sinful na- 
ture is not any the less sinful, because you 
inherited it at your birth, from your parents ; 
nor are the wicked hearts of the whole hu- 
man race any the less wicked, because they 
had their origin in the first sin of Adam, 
the original father of mankind. You feel, 
you say, that your sinful desires and conduct 
are your own, though they may be the effect 
of temptation. In like manner, your cor- 
rupt nature, which is usually called original 
sin, is your own, though it is the effect of 
Adam's first sin. If you are accountable 
for the wicked feelings which flow from 
your heart, why not for the wicked heart 
which is the seat of those feelings? Though 
your heart is not identical with your feel- 
ings, but lies back of them ; you could not 
feel at all without a heart, nor have sinful 
feelings without a sinful heart. And though 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 29 

your sinful heart or nature was inherited 
from your parents, it is as much your own 
heart, and its moral corruption is as much 
yours, as though you had received them in 
any other way. Nor is the case altered, in 
this respect, by going back to Adam. The 
imputation of the guilt of Adam's first sin 
to his posterity did not make this sinfulness 
any the less real. They were condemned 
as sinful, not as innocent. 

Henry. What do you mean, father, by 
the imputation of Adam's sin ? 

Father. I mean the penal effects of his 
first sin upon his posterity, in consequence 
of his having acted for them in the covenant 
of works, as their public head and represen- 
tative. By penal effects, I mean the sin and 
misery in which they were involved as soon 
as they were born. 

Henry. Are they really sinful before they 
commit sin themselves, or are they regarded 
and treated as sinners by imputation ? 

Father. Both are true. The guilt of 

Adam's first sin is imputed to them, and 
3* 



30 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

they are also really sinful as soon as they 
are born. Adam, when acting for his poster- 
ity, as their covenant head, stood in a similar 
relation to the race to what is seen now, when 
persons mortgage their property for debt, and 
involve their heirs, as well as themselves, in 
the losses which often ensue. This illus- 
trates imputation. But besides this legal re- 
lation of Adam to his posterity, he also sus- 
tained a natural relation as a common father, 
by which he communicated to them a bias 
or disposition to sin ; and this disposition 
to sin is odious in the sight of God, before 
any sinful act has been performed. A dis- 
position to do wrong is hateful even to us, 
wherever we see it, though the person has 
yet committed no wicked act. 

Henry requested his father to explain this 
point a little further, saying that the Bible 
speaks of the fall of angels ; but that he had 
not noticed anything relating to their fall 
which looked like imputation. What is the 
difference between the relation of the angels 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 31 

to each other, with reference to their fall, 
and Adam's relation to us ? 

Mr. James replied, God, by a single crea- 
tive act, formed myriads of holy angels, each 
one of whom was to stand or fall for himself. 
But having determined to call into being the 
human race, he created only a single man, 
and made him the natural and covenant head 
of his posterity. And then forming a 
woman from one of man's ribs, he established 
the family relation, by means of which the 
race was to be brought into existence, and 
also by a law of human nature to be born in 
the moral as well as mental and bodily like- 
ness of their first parents. Adam and Eve 
fell from the holy state in which they were 
created, by eating the forbidden fruit. Their 
fall produced a sad change in their character 
and condition ; one result of which was, that 
their children were born sinners. Thus it 
is recorded in Gen. v. 3, that "Adam begat 
a son in his own likeness, after his image ; 
and called his name Seth." The record of 
man's creation in Gen. i. 27, reads thus : "So 



32 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him." But by the 
fall, this image was lost, and Adam begat Seth 
in his own image after he fell, that is, with 
a depraved and sinful nature ; and this moral 
corruption has continued to flow down from 
parents to children by natural generation, to 
the present day. No exception has ever oc- 
curred to this universal depravity of our na- 
ture, except the Lord Jesus Christ, who being 
miraculously conceived by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, was not infected with the taint 
of original sin. 

Henry. Please tell me, father, why you 
confine your remarks concerning imputation 
and original sin, to Adam's first sin? Why 
were not his other sins imputed to his pos- 
terity as much as his first sin ? 

Father. The covenant of works was made 
with Adam when he was holy; and his 
standing or falling was made to depend on 
the single condition of his not eating of the 
tree of knowledge of good and evil. His 
disobedience in that one particular, broke 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 33 

the covenant, and involved himself and his 
posterity in ruin. With reference to that 
one act, the human race were represented in 
Adam, and by his fall they fell. In his con- 
demnation they were condemned. In other 
words, human nature was tried in him, and 
by his transgression it was brought under 
the curse. Then Adam's representative re- 
lation to us ceased. The sins which he com- 
mitted afterwards, were not committed as 
our covenant head, but as our natural father. 

In the commission of all his subsequent 
sins, after the first, he stood in the same re- 
lation to his posterity, as any other parent 
does to his descendants. 

Henry James having expressed his satis- 
faction with these explanations, his father 
remarked further, that we have no more rea- 
son for objecting to the divine arrangement 
in making Adam the federal or covenant 
head of the human race, and in making origi- 
nal sin in us the consequence of his fall, than 
we have to complain of that law of divine 
providence which is constantly seen now, in 



34 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

the transmission of vicious propensities from 
parents to children. Adam's moral charac- 
ter having become tainted, that taint or sinful 
bias was communicated to his offspring by a 
law of nature, which is constantly operating 
now, viz : that like produces like. " Who 
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
Not one." 

ILLUSTRATION OF THE FACT THAT ORIGINAL 
SIN IS PROPAGATED. 

You know, my son, the children of David 
Thurston. Their father was intemperate ; 
and he died while his boys were young, the 
oldest not over four years, and the youngest 
one year. Yet those three boys (all he had) 
grew up with a fondness for intoxicating 
drinks ; and they are now as intemperate as 
their father was during his life. I knew 
their grandfather ; and it gives me pain to 
state that he died a sot. I have known an- 
other family of whom it was said, that for 
three generations, both parents and children, 
male and female, were given to theft; and 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 35 

that this disposition was apparent in early 
childhood. This analogy is not perfect ; be- 
cause some children of vicious parents escape 
their parents' vices, whereas all of Adam's 
posterity by ordinary generation, without a 
single exception, are born sinners. The 
covenant of works, and the fall of Adam 
under that covenant, include the entire 
human race. But these cases are sufficiently 
apposite to illustrate the doctrine of heredi- 
tary depravity. Some large tribes and na- 
tions become notorious for possessing certain 
vicious traits of character ; and those traits 
descend from one generation to another. 
The apostle Paul wrote concerning the in- 
habitants of Crete, "One of themselves, even 
a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians 
are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 
This witness is true." But though Paul bears 
this testimony concerning them, he does 
not utter a word in extenuation of their 
guilt. On the contrary, he distinctly teaches 
that they are highly culpable for their in- 
veterate perverseness of character. 



36 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Men may carp at the doctrine of heredi- 
tary depravity ; but they cannot deny 
its existence. It is too apparent to escape 
observation. They may call in question 
the equity of the divine procedure concern- 
ing Adam and his posterity ; but the charge 
is as unreasonable as it would be to accuse 
Jehovah of having acted unjustly towards 
our race, in not creating us angels, instead 
of men. God having in his wisdom deter- 
mined to make one man and one woman, as 
the original fountain of human society ; to 
make them after his own image, and in the 
full maturity of manhood, both in mind and 
body ; and so to order it, that all their de- 
scendants should come into the world in a 
state of feeble infancy, determined most 
wisely, and with infinite justice and good- 
ness to all concerned, to make the first 
man the public head and representative 
of the race, rather than to place each infant 
child on probation for himself, with the 
great comparative disadvantages under 
which he would necessarily lie. This sim- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 37 

pie statement of the case places the divine 
arrangement with Adam, not only above 
reasonable objection, but as one which is 
worthy of our gratitude and praise. 

Mr. James having paused in his remarks, 
Henry said : I perceive, father, more clearly 
than ever before, that I have thought and 
felt wrong on this subject. I might as well, 
I find, complain of the divine constitution 
of human society, and the social liabilities 
which grow out of it, as to oppose the doc- 
trine of original sin. I thank you, father, 
for solving my difficulties, and I hope I 
shall never again, even in thought, call in 
question the justice of God's dealings with 
mankind, in this particular. 

MR. JAMES'S ADVICE TO HENRY. 

Mr. James expressed his gratification in 
being able to relieve his son's mind of the 
difficulties under which it had laboured, and 
then remarked to him thus : Before closing 
this conversation, Henry, I earnestly advise 
and exhort you once more, to consider in a 

4: 



38 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

serious manner, (he corruption and wicked- 
ness of your heart. Through the kind pro- 
vidential influences under which you have 
lived, accompanied by the restraints of a 
religious education and the Holy Spirit, you 
have escaped those outward sins, into which 
many fall. But external morality, though 
a duty, is not the whole of religion. You 
have a depraved and sinful nature, and you 
ought, with deep humility, and sincere re- 
pentance, to approach the throne of divine 
grace, and seek forgiveness through the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Eead, especially, the fifty- 
first Psalm, and adopt the language as your 
own. I also recommend to you the perusal 
of Dr. Watts's versification of this Psalm ; 
particularly the following stanzas, which 
contain a humble confession of original sin, 
and a penitent and believing approach to 
the fountain of gospel grace : 

" Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin, 
And born unholy and unclean ; 
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall 
Corrupts the race, and taints us all. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 39 

" Soon as we draw our infant breath, 

The seeds of sin grow up for death ; 

The law demands a perfect heart ; 

But we're defiled in every part. 
li Great God, create my heart anew, 

And form my spirit pure and true ; 

Oh ! make me wise betimes to spy 

My danger and my remedy. 
11 Behold, I fall before thy face ; 

My only refuge is thy grace. 

No outward forms can make me clean ; 

The leprosy lies deep within. 
11 No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast, 

Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest, 

Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea, 

Can wash the dismal stain away. 
" Jesus, my God, thy blood alone 

Hath power sufficient to atone ; 

Thy blood can make me white as snow ; 

No Jewish types could cleanse me so. 

" While guilt disturbs and breaks my peace. 
Nor flesh, nor soul, hath rest or ease ; 
Lord, let me hear thy pardoning voice, 
And make my broken heart rejoice." 

THE PRECIOUSNESS OF GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 

If you can adopt these stanzas as your 



40 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

own, continued Mr. James, grace will be in 
your ears, one of the sweetest words in the 
English language, and you will be prepared 
to converse on the doctrines of grace with 
satisfaction and profit. 

Mrs. Isabella Graham expresses in the 
following pious exercises, the feelings of all 
genuine believers in Christ : " Glory be to 
God, Father, Son, and blessed Spirit, for the 
grace in which I stand. But for grace, I 
had been a willing slave to sin to this hour. 
By that same grace, I shall one day attain 
to victory. My soul waits for thy salvation." 
The same sentiment is contained in the 
lines, sung by thousands : 

" Oh ! to grace, how great a debtor 
Daily I'm constrained to be !" 

These lines express not only what is pre- 
cious to the christian during life, but what 
are the support and comfort of his soul in a 
dying hour. 

The Eev. Mr. McLaren, an eminent Scotch 
divine, when asked, just before his death, by 
a neighbouring minister : " What are you 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 41 

doing, brother?" replied as follows : " I am 
gathering together all my prayers, all my 
sermons, all my good deeds, all my ill deeds, 
and I am going to throw them all overboard, 
and swim to glory on the plank of Free 
Grace." 

I am sensible, father, said Henry, that if I 
am saved at all, my salvation must be owing 
to divine grace ; because I have no right- 
eousness of my own to plead before God ; 
but I fear I know only little as I ought to 
know, concerning the gospel plan of salva- 
tion. Please, father, give me some instruc- 
tion on this subject, as soon as convenient. 

Mr. James readily consented to this re- 
quest, and enjoined on Henry the frequent 
reading of God's word, accompanied by 
prayer and meditation. I enjoin on you 
these duties, said he, not as being themselves 
a ground of trust, but as means of enlighten- 
ing your mind, and benefitting your heart. 
The family were then called together, and, 
after engaging in worship, they retired to 
rest. 

4* 



CONVERSATION II. 

CONCERNING CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 

On the following Sabbath, Mr. James 
preached a sermon, with special reference to 
the inquiry previously made by his son, con- 
cerning the doctrines of grace. The words 
of his text were taken from Eph. i. 7 : " In 
whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
of his grace." He had repeated this text in 
their former conversation, as containing the 
first of those glorious truths which relate to 
the gospel plan of salvation. In his sermon, 
he discoursed at length upon the wonderful 
and marvellous scheme of man's redemption. 
He spoke in a few introductory words of the 
great love of God the Father, in sending his 
only begotten and well-beloved Son into the 
world, as the Saviour of lost men, and of the 

(42) 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 43 

great love of God the Son, in consenting to 
become our Kedeemer, and to offer himself 
as a vicarious sacrifice for our sins. He 
then proceeded to unfold the nature and ne- 
cessity of Christ's " redemption ;" how it was 
procured, viz : " through his blood ;" one of 
its blessed results to us, viz: "the forgive- 
ness of sins ;" and how it displayed and mag- 
nified the " riches" of divine "grace." 
The concluding hymn was as follows : 

" Come to Calvary's holy mountain, 
Sinners ruined by the fall, 
Here a pure and healing fountain 

Flows to cleanse the guilty soul, 
In a full perpetual tide, 
Opened when the Saviour died. 

11 Come in sorrow and contrition, 
Wounded, impotent, and blind ; 
Here the guilty seek remission, 
Here the lost a refuge find ; 
Health this fountain will restore, 
He that drinks shall thirst no more. 

11 Come ye dying, live for ever ; 
' Tis a soul-reviving flood : 



44 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

God is faithful, he will never 

Break his covenant, sealed in blood ; 
Signed, when our Redeemer died, 
Sealed, when he was glorified." 

GOD'S LOVE FOR SINNERS WONDERFUL. 

Henry James heard the discourse with 
solemn attention ; and in the evening he fol- 
lowed his father into his study, in order that 
he might converse with him on the subject. 
He said to his father, When you were dis- 
coursing to-day on the subject of man's re- 
demption, and the wonderful display which 
is made thereby of God's grace, it seemed to 
me almost beyond belief, that the great Je- 
hovah should thus interpose for our salva- 
tion. 

Mr. James replied, It would be beyond 
belief, if we had no other evidence of its 
truth than human reason. Even the holy 
angels were surprised at the revelation of 
this "great mystery of godliness, God mani- 
fest in the flesh." " Which things," says an 
inspired apostle, " the angels desire to look 
into." But we have the most satisfactory 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 45 

proof that the sacred volume was indited by 
the Holy Spirit ; and the great design of this 
book is to reveal to us the plan of salvation 
through Jesus Christ. But though undoubt- 
edly true, it is not the less amazing ; and it 
would be so regarded by all who read the 
Bible, if it had not become familiar to their 
minds by frequent perusal, and if they were 
not indifferent to spiritual things. 

god's love exciting in the heathen won- 
der AND SURPRISE. 

Missionaries to the heathen have occasion- 
ally found instances in which the first an- 
nouncement of God's love to sinners, in the 
gift of his Son, has called forth expressions 
of extraordinary wonder and surprise. 
Mr. Nott, a missionary in the South Sea 
Islands, read a portion of the gospel of John 
to a number of the natives. When he had 
finished the sixteenth verse of the third 
chapter, a native, who had listened with 
avidity and joy to the words, interrupted 
him, and said, " What words were those you 



46 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

read ? Let me hear them again I" Mr. Nott 
read the verse again : " God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him, should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." The na- 
tive arose from his seat, and said, " Is that 
true? Can that be true? God love the 
world, when the world not love him ! God 
so love the world, as to give his Son to die 
that man might not die ! Can that be true ?" 
Mr. Nott again read the verse, " God so loved 
the world, &c.," told him it was true, and 
that it was the message God had sent to 
them ; and that whosoever believed in him 
should not perish, but be happy after death. 
The overwhelming feelings of the wondering 
native were too powerful for expression or 
restraint. He burst into tears, and as these 
chased each other down his countenance, he 
retired to meditate in private on the great 
love of God which had that day touched his 
soul. He afterwards gave evidence of hav- 
ing embraced the Saviour, and of enjoying 
that peace and happiness which resulted 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 47 

from the shedding abroad of God's love in 
his heart. 

JESUS CHRIST, THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD, BE- 
CAME MAN. 

Mr. James proceeded to remark : Our Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, 
possessing a distinct personality, but being 
the same in essence with God the Father. 
Thus in the first chapter of John, the same 
person who is called the "Word," is also 
called "God," by whom "all things were 
made, and without him was not anything 
made that was made." " And the Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we be- 
held his glory, the glory as of the only be- 
gotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." 
How God could become man, that is, God- 
man, so uniting his divine and human na- 
tures, as to possess two distinct natures and 
but one person, is a mystery which I cannot 
explain. It is not susceptible of a full expla- 
nation. But as the Scriptures teach it, and 
make it the foundation of the work of our 



48 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

redemption, it must be received as a funda- 
mental truth, on the same divine authority 
by which we believe any other incompre- 
hensible truth ; such as that God is an un- 
created, self-existent, and eternal Spirit. 
Who, by searching, can find out God? 
Who can find out the Almighty unto per- 
fection ? 

Henry. Do you mean, father, by calling 
this doctrine fundamental, that a sinner can- 
not be saved, unless he believes Jesus Christ 
to be both God and man ? 

Father. Yes, Henry, that is what I mean. 
Unless, as your catechism asserts, " there are 
three persons in the Godhead, the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these 
three are one God, the same in substance, 
equal in power and glory ;" the gospel plan 
of salvation is essentially defective; the 
shedding of Christ's blood is not adequate to 
procure our forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit 
is unable to renovate and sanctify our souls. 

Though I am not speaking now of the 
Holy Spirit, yet it is proper to remark 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 49 

here, that there is the same necessity for the 
divinity of the Holy Ghost, as for that of 
Jesus Christ, and that Scripture proof of the 
divinity of the Holy Spirit is not wanting. 
For instance, the Holy Ghost is expressly 
called God in the sacred Scriptures. Said 
Peter to Ananias : " Why hath Satan filled 
thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost ? Thou 
hast not lied unto men, but unto God." But 
I will say more concerning the Holy Spirit 
hereafter. It is to my purpose to allude to 
this subject, now, because those who deny 
the divinity of Christ, likewise deny the di- 
vinity of the Holy Spirit, and, on the other 
hand, those who hold to the one, hold also 
to the other. The two stand inseparably 
related to each other in the gospel plan of 
salvation. 

With regard to Christ, Mr. James further 
remarked : One of the earliest heresies con- 
cerning Christ was, that he was not a man, 
but that he only assumed the appearance of 
a human being, as the holy angels some- 
times did in the first ages of the church. 



50 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

To this heresy, the apostle John alludes 
when he says : *• Every spirit that confess- 
eth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is 
of God : And every spirit that confesseth 
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is 
not of God." It is essential that Christ 
should be a man, in order to suffer and die 
as an atoning sacrifice. " For without the 
shedding of blood, there is no remission." 
As the rock in the wilderness must be smit- 
ten by the rod of Moses, before it could 
become a fountain of water, to furnish 
drink to the people of Israel ; so Christ 
must be smitten in order to become the 
source of life and salvation for sinners. 
Accordingly that rock was a type or em- 
blem of Christ. " They drank of that spirit- 
ual Rock that followed them ; and that Rock 
was Christ." 

But in order to render his blood a true 
and proper sacrifice to put away sin, he 
must be Divine as well as human. Hence 
the Scriptures often assert his Divinity. 
Paul commences his epistle to the Hebrews, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 51 

by affirming in strong language the Divine 
nature of the Son of God. In the second 
chapter, he affirms with equal clearness his 
human nature ; and these statements con- 
cerning his adorable person, he makes the 
basis of his subsequent arguments concern- 
ing the efficacy of his atonement. Christ 
" took not on him the nature of angels, but 
he took on him the seed of Abraham." He 
thus assumed a condition which rendered 
him competent to suffer ; but was at the 
same time, " the brightness of his [God the 
Father's] glory, and the express image of 
his person, upholding all things by the word 
of his power." 

napoleon Bonaparte's opinion of christ. 

Men of honest and reflecting minds, 
though making no profession of being theo- 
logians, have often been forced to acknow- 
ledge the Divinity of Christ. Said Napoleon 
Bonaparte, in a conversation at St. Helena: 
M I know men, and I tell you, that Jesus is 
not a man!" .... " Alexander, Caesar, 



52 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Charlemagne, and myself, founded empires ; 
but on what foundation did we rest the cre- 
ations of our genius ? Upon force ! Jesus 
Christ founded an empire upon love, and at 
this hour, millions of men would die for 
him." .... "The religion of Christ pro- 
ceeds from a mind which is not human." 

Our Lord's supreme power and dignity 
enabled him to lay down his life as a free 
and voluntary act, and to take it again by 
rising from the dead, and also to give to his 
sacrifice infinite value. Thus, "having by 
himself purged our sins, he sat down on the 
right hand of the Majesty on high." This 
doctrine of God's becoming incarnate in 
order to save sinners, has been the faith of 
the church ever since the apostolic age, and 
it has imparted hope and joy to many an 
anxious soul. For a hundred and fifty 
years past, the words which were sung at 
the church to-day, have been employed to 
express the hearty and grateful sentiments 
and emotions of myriads of God's people. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 53 

" Till God in human flesh I see, 
My thoughts no comfort find ; 
The holy, just, and sacred Three 
Are terrors to my mind. 

" But if ImmanuePs face appear, 
My hope, my joy begins ; 
His name forbids my slavish fear, 
His grace removes my sins." 

CHRIST DYING TO ATONE FOR OUR SINS. 

Henry James safc with an earnest counte- 
nance, while his father was making these re- 
marks, and then said, Please to explain to 
me, father, why it was necessary for Christ 
to die in order to our obtaining forgiveness 
of sins. You have often told me that if a 
person should do me wrong, and afterward 
express sorrow for his offence, I ought to 
forgive him. And God himself says in his 
word, that " he that confesseth and for- 
saketh his sins, shall find mercy." 

Mr. James replied, It is your duty to for- 
give those who have injured you, because 
Christ has enjoined upon all a forgiving 
spirit^ even though the offence be often re 

5* 



54 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

peated. See Matt, xviii. 21, 22, and Luke 
xvii. 3, 4. He also inspired one of his apos- 
tles to write: "Dearly beloved, avenge not 
yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : 
for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will 
repay, saith the Lord." Rom. xii. 19. But 
his directions to us as individuals are not 
designed as a rule for his own conduct as 
our moral governor. These directions are 
not designed even for us> except as individ- 
uals. He requires civil rulers to execute 
justice on the guilty, and for some crimes 
he enjoins the infliction of capital punish- 
ment. With regard to his promise of mercy 
to those who confess and forsake their sins, 
it is a gospel promise, not made irrespective 
of the atonement, but in view of it. Repent- 
ance is an evangelical duty, not designed as 
an atonement for sin, nor to take the place 
of an atonement, so as to render the latter 
unnecessary; but it has the atonement for 
its foundation ; and hence no promise of for- 
giveness upon our repentance would have 
ft 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 55 

ever been made, if no atonement had been 
provided. 

Henry. Did the atonement incline God 
to be merciful any more than he was before ? 

Father. In a certain sense it did not. God 
is love; and hence he is infinitely disposed to be 
good and gracious to his creatures. It was his 
love which provided a Saviour. But there 
were serious obstacles in the way of his ex- 
ercising his benevolence in the forgiveness 
of our sins ; obstacles which could not be re- 
moved, except by the atonement of Jesus 
Christ. Though God is merciful, he is also 
just; and before he could bestow mercy con- 
sistently with his justice, and also with his 
honour as our lawgiver and moral governor, 
adequate satisfaction must be made in our 
behalf, by the vicarious obedience and death 
of Christ, who, by obeying the law, magni- 
fied it, and made it honourable ; and who by 
enduring its penalty, was made a sin-offering 
for us, and so became a propitiation for our 
sins. To propitiate is to appease the anger 



56 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

of a person who is offended, and thus render 
him favourable to the offender. 

God's anger was justly provoked by our 
sins ; and the atonement was provided in 
order that his justice might be satisfied, and 
his anger appeased. His* glorious perfec- 
tions were thus vindicated and honoured, 
and the authority of his law and government 
was maintained. He could now be just, 
and the justifier of him that believeth. He 
would thus be really just, because his justice 
was exercised in the penal sufferings of our 
adorable substitute ; and he would appear to 
be just, in the view of all holy intelligences, 
to whom the gospel plan might be made 
known. There was no longer any conflict 
between the different attributes of his adora- 
ble character; but they were all harmonized 
and rendered still more illustrious in the 
cross of Christ. " Whom [that is, Christ] 
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, 
through faith in his blood, to declare his 
righteousness for the remission of sins that 
are past, through the forbearance of God ; to 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 57 

declare, I say, at this time his righteousness ; 
that he might be just, and the justifier of him 
which believeth in Jesus. 7 ' Eom. iii. 25, 26. 

A TOUCHING ILLUSTRATION OF THE ATONE- 
MENT. 

Mr. James now rose and took down from 
his library a small volume, containing an 
anecdote of the Rev. Samuel Kilpin, of Exe- 
ter, England, and handed it to his son, say- 
ing, This little book contains an interesting 
anecdote which I have employed more than 
once when preaching on the atonement. It 
is an appropriate illustration of the great 
principle which I have just alluded to, viz: 
the glorious blending together of justice and 
mercy in the forgiveness of sins. Henry 
took the book, and read as follows : 

"In Mr. Kilpin's school were two boys, 
brothers, from eleven to twelve years old. 
One of these children had, after repeated ad- 
monition, manifested a determined obstinacy 
and sulky resistance. Mr. K. told him that 
the result of such conduct would be a chas- 



58 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

tisement not easily to be forgotten. He was 
preparing to inflict it on the still hardened 
child, when his brother (Paul) came forward 
and entreated that he might bear the punish- 
ment in the place of his brother. Mr. K. re- 
marked, l My dear Paul, you are one of my 
best boys, you have never needed chastise- 
ment, your mind is tender, I could not be 
so unjust as to give you pain, my precious 
child.' The dear boy said, 'I shall endure 
more pain to witness his disgrace and suffer- 
ing, than any thing you could inflict on me; 
he is a little boy, and younger and weaker 
than I am ; pray sir, allow me to take all the 
punishment. I will bear any thing from you. 
Oh, do, do sir, take me in exchange for my 
naughty brother I' l Well, James,' said Mj\ K., 
'what say you to this noble offer of Paul?' 
He looked at his brother, but made no reply. 
Paul still entreated for the punishment, that 
it might be finished, and wept. Mr. K. said, 
'Did you ever hear of any one who bore 
stripes and insults to shield offenders, Paul ?' 
VOh, yes, sir, the Lord Jesus Christ gave his 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 59 

back to the smiters for us poor little sinners, 
and by his stripes we are healed and par- 
doned. O sir, pardon James for my sake, 
and let me endure the pain. I can bear it 
better than he.' * But your brother does not 
seek pardon for himself, why should you feel 
this anxiety, my dear Paul ? Does he not de- 
serve correction V £ Oh, yes, sir, he has broken 
the rules of the school after repeated warn- 
ings ; you have said he must suffer ; therefore 
as I know you would not speak an untruth, 
and the laws must be kept, and he is sullen, 
and will not repent, what can be done, sir? 
Please to take me, because I am stronger 
than he.' The boy then threw his arms 
around his brother's neck, and wetted his 
sulky, hardened face with tears of tenderness. 
This was rather more than poor James could 
stand firmly. His tears began to flow, his 
heart melted, he sought forgiveness, and em- 
braced his brother. Mr. K. clasped both in 
his arms, and prayed for a blessing on them 
from Him of whom it is said,* 'He was 



60 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

wounded for our transgressions, he was 
bruised for our iniquities.' " 

Henry James was so much moved by this 
touching anecdote, that he could not restrain 
his feelings — he wept freely. His father 
remained silent for a few minutes, and then 
at Henry's request, he offered a prayer in 
his behalf that God would give him grace to 
exercise true faith in Christ. 

SUFFICIENCY OF THE ATONEMENT — THE GOS- 
PEL OFFER MADE TO ALL. 

When they had risen from their knees, 
Mr. James remarked that the occurrence in 
Mr. Kilpin's school does not illustrate the 
nature of the atonement, in every particu- 
lar. No incident which has ever occurred 
among men, can do this. But it shows 
clearly and impressively, the main principle 
of the atonement, viz : Christ's voluntary 
surrender of himself to suffer the penalty of 
the law in our stead ; according to that 
Scripture,- " Christ also hath once suffered for 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 61 

sins — the just for the unjust — that he might 
bring us to God." 

Christ's sufferings are the means of bring- 
ing us to God by opening for us a door of 
access to God, and by furnishing us a pre- 
vailing plea in our supplication to him for 
mercy and grace. In seeking pardon of sin, 
we are able to say that God can bestow this 
favour without dishonouring himself. Yea, 
that in granting pardon through the atone- 
ment of Christ, he may display with in- 
creased lustre his adorable perfections. 
Christ's sufferings also form a true and 
sufficient ground for inviting all sinners 
to draw near to God, with the assurance 
that if they come to him by faith, their 
sins, however numerous or aggravated, will 
be forgiven. Christ's words are: "Come 
unto me all ye that labour and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest." A.nd again, 
"Him that cometh unto me, I will in 
no wise cast out." So in other parts of 
Scripture the invitation is general : u Ho [ 

every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
6 



62 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

waters." " Whosoever will, let him take 
the water of life freely." 

You are therefore, my son, encouraged 
and invited to receive the atonement of 
Christ, and to rely upon it as the ground 
(and be assured it is the only ground) of 
your acceptance with God. I am likewise 
authorized to deliver the same message to 
all other sinners, as well as to you. So 
reads the last commission of our Lord to his 
apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature." This 
commission is based on the inexhaustible 
sufficiency of the atonement. It is not ex- 
hausted either by the lapse of time, or by the 
great number of sinners who have been 
made partakers of its benefits. It is as full 
and free now, for all who come, as it was at 
first. As the rock smitten by Moses in the 
wilderness, to which I have before alluded, 
became a fountain of water, which afforded 
an abundant supply to the Israelites in 
all their journeys ; so in Christ crucified, 
there is a boundless store of grace for sin- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 63 

ners, an unfailing fountain of hope and joy 
open for all comers, who " hunger and thirst 
after righteousness." 

Please tell me, father, said Henry James, 
whether these views accord with the Confes- 
sion of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, 
and with the sentiments of Calvinistic auth- 
ors. 

Mr. James replied, These sentiments are 
in perfect harmony with our Confession of 
Faith, and with those which are held by 
Calvinists generally. The words of the Con- 
fession are, " Man, by his fall, having made 
himself incapable of life by that covenant, 
[that is, the covenant of works,] the Lord 
was pleased to make a second, commonly 
called the covenant of grace: wherein he 
freely offered unto sinners life and salvation 
by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in 
him, that they may be saved." To the same 
effect are the words of the larger Catechism : 
"The grace of God is manifested in the 
second covenant, in that he freely provicleth 
and offereth to sinners a Mediator, and life 



64 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

and salvation by him, and requiring faith as 
the condition to interest them in him." 
Several of our Presbyterian hymns contain 
a distinct expression of these sentiments. 

" Welcome all, by sin oppressed, 
Welcome to his sacred rest ; 
Nothing brought Him from above, 
Nothing but redeeming love." 

Again : 

" Elvers of love and mercy here 
In a rich ocean join ; 
Salvation in abundance flows, 
Like floods of milk and wine." 

Again: 

" Delay not, delay not, sinner, draw near ; 
The waters of life are now flowing for thee ; 
No price is demanded, the Saviour is here, 
Redemption is purchased, salvation is free." 

MARROW OF MODERN" DIVINITY. 

More than two centuries ago, continued 
Mr. James, Mr. Edward Fisher, a learned and 
pious Englishman, wrote a treatise entitled 
" Marrow of Modern Divinity," which has 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 65 

been highly esteemed ever since by Evan- 
gelical Calvinists in England, Scotland, and 
the United States of America. A new edi- 
tion of the work has been lately published 
by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. 
The author says, "I beseech you consider, 
that God the Father, as he is in his Son Je- 
sus Christ, moved with nothing but with his 
free love to mankind lost, hath made a deed of 
gift and grant unto them all, that whosoever 
of them all shall believe in his Son, shall 
not perish, but have eternal life. And hence 
it was, that Jesus Christ himself said unto 
his disciples, Mark xvi. 15, ( Go and preach 
the gospel to every creature under heaven ;' 
that is, Go and tell every man without excep- 
tion, that here is good news for him ; Christ 
is dead for him ; and if he will take him, and 
accept of his righteousness, he shall have him." 
An Appendix to this interesting volume, 
contains answers to twelve queries, proposed 
by the Commission of the General Assembly 
of the Church of Scotland, concerning the 

doctrines of the "Marrow." These answers 
6 * 



66 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

were drawn up and subscribed by eleven of 
the most distinguished and godly Presbyte- 
rian Ministers of the Scotch Church. Con- 
cerning the gospel offer they say, " We an- 
swer to the first part of the question, that by 
the 'deed of gift or grant unto all mankind,' 
we understand no more than the revelation 
of the divine will in the word, affording 
warrant to all to receive him ; for although 
we believe the purchase and application of 
redemption to be peculiar to the elect, who 
were given by the Father to Christ in the 
counsel of peace, yet the warrant to receive 
him is common to all. Ministers, by virtue 
of the commission they have received from 
their great Lord and Master, are authorized 
and instructed to go preach the gospel to 
every creature, that is, to make a full, free, 
and unhampered offer of him, his grace, 
righteousness, and salvation, to every rational 
soul to whom they may in providence have 
access to speak. And though we had a voice 
like a trumpet, that could reach all the cor- 
ners of the earth, we think we would be 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 67 

bound, by virtue of our commission, to lift 
it up, and say, ' To you, men, do we call, 
and our voice is to the sons of men. God 
hath so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life.'" 

I thought, father, said Henry James, that 
our Confession of Faith teaches the doctrine 
of definite atonement. Is this doctrine con- 
sistent with the general offer of salvation to 
all men ? 

Mr. James replied, Definite atonement is 
the doctrine of our Confession ; but this doc- 
trine is in perfect harmony with the offer 
of Christ to all men. The word "atonement" 
does not occur in our Confession of Faith ; 
but instead thereof, the term redemption is 
used to describe Christ's mediatorial work. 
Particular redemption is maintained even by 
those Calvinistic divines of the present day, 
who believe in general atonement ; and I see 
not how any can hold to general redemption 
except Universalists, who believe that all 
mankind will be finally saved. And yet, as 



68 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

you have seen, those old divines who were 
accustomed to employ the word redemption, 
instead of atonement, believed the gospel 
offer to be sincerely made to all mankind. 

ATONEMENT AND REDEMPTION COMPARED. 

Mr. James further remarked, that a com- 
parison of the two words, atonement and re- 
demption, will throw additional light on 
this subject. Though atonement and re- 
demption are not exactly synonymous, they 
are closely related to each other. Their re- 
lation may be stated thus. The blood of 
Christ, as an atoning sacrifice, was the 
means, the end of which was our redemption ; 
{c Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ." 
By the blood of Christ is meant his atone- 
ment. The reason assigned in the law of 
Moses for prohibiting the eating of blood, 
was that u with the blood atonement is 
made." The atonement made by animal 
sacrifices, was typical of Christ's atonement 
by the shedding of his own blood, the effect 
of which was our redemption. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 69 

Again, the word ransom, used in the sense 
of atonement, is employed in Scripture to 
denote the means, and redemption the end, 
or effect. Our Lord says, that the (t Son of 
man came to give his life a ransom for 
many." And Paul says, with reference to 
Christ's death, that we are "bought with a 
price;" meaning by price, the ransom which 
Christ paid for the redemption of our souls. 
This is stated in express terms to have been 
the end of Christ's death. " Who gave him- 
self for us, that he might redeem us from all 
iniquity." Christ's giving himself for us is 
equivalent to saying that he gave his life a 
ransom or atoning sacrifice ; and the end is 
declared to be our redemption. In Ex. xxx. 
12, 15, 16, the words ransom and atonement 
are employed as synonymous terms. " They 
shall give every man a ransom for his soul 

unto the Lord," "an offering unto 

the Lord to make an atonement for your 
souls. And thou shalt take the atonement 

money," " and shalt appoint it for 

the service of the tabernacle of the congre- 



70 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

gation," "to make an atonement for 

your souls." The term ransom is used in 
the same sense in the book of Job, with re- 
ference to Christ's mediation for sinful man. 
"Deliver him from going down to the pit, I 
have found a ransom ;" that is, I have found 
an atoning sacrifice to procure his redemp- 
tion. 

Once more. In the only text in the Eng- 
lish New Testament, where the word atone- 
ment occurs, Rom. v. 11. it signifies recon- 
ciliation, which conveys the two-fold idea 
of God's being reconciled to us and our 
being reconciled to God, that is, of our being 
brought into that state of friendship with 
God which secures our final salvation. 
Thus reasons the apostle: "If, when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son ; much more, being 
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 
This glorious consummation of our hopes 
is denominated in Scripture, "eternal re- 
demption," obtained for us by the atoning 
blood of Christ, Heb. ix. 12. In these pas- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 71 

sages, atonement and redemption cover, sub- 
stantially, the same ground. They include 
Christ's sacrifice, and its application to the 
heart and conscience of sinners ; the procur- 
ing of pardon and eternal life, and the actual 
bestowment of these blessings upon the 
guilty. 

What does this comparison show, said 
Henry, concerning the extent of the atone- 
ment? 

Mr. James replied : This comparison 
of atonement and redemption shows that if 
the word atonement is taken in its full im- 
port as planned in the divine mind, and 
carried forward to its final results, it was 
definite and limited, that is, it was designed to 
secure the salvation of those only, who be- 
lieve in Christ ; or in other words, of those 
only, who were given by God the Father to 
his eternal Son in the covenant of redemp- 
tion, who are called in Scripture, God's elect. 
If it had not been for that covenant, and for 
the certainty that upon Christ's fulfilling its 
conditions, he would have "a seed to serve 



72 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

him," we have no reason to believe he would 
have become incarnate, or have given him- 
self a sacrifice for sin. Those who were 
thus given to him, he calls his sheep, for 
whom he laid down his life. John x. 15. 
And it was for them, as our Confession and 
Catechism state, Christ received the promise 
of the Holy Spirit, "to make them willing 
and able to believe ;" to work in them, like- 
wise, all other saving graces, and to enable 
them unto all holy obedience. 

IN WHAT SENSE CHRIST DIED FOR ALL. 

Henry. Please, father, explain those texts 
which appear to teach that Christ died for 
all. 

Mr. James. Those passages, he " gave 
himself a ransom for all ;" he " died for all ;" 
he " tasted death for every man ;" he is the 
" Saviour of all men, especially of those that 
believe;" he is "the propitiation for our 
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the 
sins of the whole world," and a few others 
of a similar character, must be interpreted 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 73 

by a reference to the connection in which 
they are found. In every case, a careful ex- 
amination of these passages will show, as I 
think, that these general terms and phrases 
are qualified by some connecting words or 
circumstances, which make them equivalent 
to saying that he died for all who believe ; 
or that he died for the Gentiles, as well as 
the Jews ; or that he died for all classes, 
ranks, and conditions of men, the poor and 
ignoble, no less than the rich and great. 

But if any insist that some of these texts 
cannot be thus restricted, but must be taken 
in their widest import, then I would say 
that Christ died for all, in the sense of mak- 
ing sufficient provision, by his atoning 
sacrifice, on which to base the universal 
offer of the gospel, and not with the design 
of saving all. This answer is not an eva- 
sion, but is all which the language of these 
and other similar texts requires, in their 
most extensive sense. If Christ's death 
formed a sufficient ground for offering par- 
don to all, then it is no perversion of Ian- 



74 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

guage to say that he died for all, without 
implying thereby that he designed to save 
all. This last cannot be true, unless uni- 
versal salvation be a Bible doctrine, which 
it is not ; or unless Christ failed to carry 
out his design, and consequently, suffered 
disappointment, which cannot be admitted for 
a moment. This sentiment would be the high- 
est dishonour to Christ as God-man, akin to 
that which robs him of his Divinity. 

Henry James listened with intense inter- 
est to these remarks. Father, said he, the 
wonder I expressed in view of the gospel 
plan of redemption, as unfolded in your 
sermon, is not diminished by your further 
observations on this subject. Those words, 
" In whom we have redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to 
the riches of his grace," have been in my 
mind all the evening. And as you have 
proceeded with your remarks, I have felt 
more sensibly, than ever before, the riches 
of God's grace in the forgiveness of sins, 
and I have perceived more clearly, how glo- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 75 

rious a foundation of forgiveness is the 
Lord Jesus Christ. If I know my heart, I 
greatly desire an interest in this redemption. 

But, father, continued Henry, I have one 
or two difficulties which discourage me. 
Though the atonement is sufficient for all, 
and the offer is made to all; yet if the gospel 
provision was not designed to save all, how 
can all have a valid ground for accepting 
the offer ? 

Mr. James replied : The secret purpose 
of God is not the rule of man's duty, but his 
revealed will, and Christ says : " This is the 
will of him that sent me, that every one 
which seeth the Son and believeth on him, 
may have everlasting life." Sinners are not 
only warranted to believe this, but are com- 
manded to do so, on the authority of God 
himself; and every one who thus believes, 
will be saved. 

Henry further remarked : Sometimes 
when I endeavour to seek the Lord, the 
thought enters my mind, What if I do seek ? 
If the atonement was not made for me in par- 



76 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

ticular, I shall not be saved, and my seeking 
will be in vain. Can you relieve me of this 
difficulty ? 

Mr. James replied as follows : 

If I cannot relieve you, Henry, of this 
difficulty, your feeling of uncertainty ought 
not to keep you back. The four leprous 
men threw themselves into the hands of 
the Syrians, and queen Esther went into 
the king's palace to intercede for her peo- 
ple and kindred, without any assurance 
of success. It was enough to move them to 
effort that they might, perhaps, obtain relief. 
And so ought every sinner to act with re- 
ference to seeking the Lord. So ought you 
to feel and act. In a matter of such mo- 
ment, the mere hope of success, even though 
small, ought to move you to effort. Your 
language should be, 

tl I can but perish, if I go ; 
I am resolved to try ; 
For if I stay away, I know 
I must for ever die." 

But I have a further answer. You are 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 77 

not left to uncertainty in the matter of com- 
ing to Christ. He invites you to come, and 
promises to receive you. Are not his invi- 
tation and promise a sufficient warrant? 
You virtually call in question his veracity, 
by asking further assurance before you feel 
warranted to come. 

Again, your earnest seeking of Christ is a 
scriptural evidence that the atonement was 
made for you ; because our Saviour says, 
" Seek and ye shall find ;" and those who 
find him can have no doubt of their interest 
in his atonement. 

Your only ground for doubt on this point, 
really exists when you have no desire to 
seek the Lord, but not when you feel this 
desire. If therefore, the objection which you 
urge is operating to prevent you from com- 
ing to Christ, you have much cause for 
alarm, and should earnestly pray God to de- 
liver you from this dangerous delusion. But 
if you have a desire to come to Christ, cherish 
it ; nay, act upon it immediately, and embrace 

7* 



78 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

him as your Eedeemer. "Believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 

EXPERIENCE OF COWPER, THE POET. 

Mr. James proceeded to remark further: 
The experience of William Cowper the poet, 
author of " The Task," &c. ; is an instance, 
(and there are millions of others,) illustrating 
the divine efficacy of the atonement, to pro- 
duce in the mind of an anxious sinner, when 
he receives Christ, peace, hope, and joy. 
The following narrative is in his own words. 
Speaking of his religious experience, he says, 
" But the happy period which was to shake 
off my fetters, and afford me a clear opening 
of the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus, 
was now arrived. I flung myself into a chair 
near the window, and seeing a Bible there, 
ventured once more to apply to it for com- 
fort and instruction. The first verse I saw, 
was Rom. iii. 25. 'Whom God hath set 
forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood, to declare his righteousness for 
the remission of sins that are past, through 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 79 

the forbearance of God.' Immediately I re- 
ceived strength to believe, and the full beams 
of the Sun of righteousness shone upon me. 
I saw the sufficiency of the atonement he had 
made, my pardon sealed in his blood, and all 
the fulness and completeness of his justifica- 
tion. In a moment I believed, and received 
the gospel." 

You remember, Henry, that you alluded 
in our last conversation to a delightful hymn, 
which had interested you very much, and 
you said you would give the whole world 
if you could adopt the latter part of it as 
your own. That precious hymn was com- 
posed by Cowper; and it was doubtless 
penned (I know not at what period of his 
life) to express his own personal experience 
concerning the plan of salvation. You may, 
my son, repeat three or four stanzas. Henry 
repeated as follows : 

" There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Inimanuel's veins ; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
Lose all their guilty stains. 



80 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

The dying thief rejoiced to see 

That fountain in his day ; 
And there may I, though vile as he, 

Wash all my sins away. 

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood 

Shall never lose its power, 
Till all the ransomed church of God 

Be saved to sin no more. 

E'er since by faith I saw the stream, 

Thy flowing wounds supply, 
Eedeeming love has been my theme, 

And shall be till I die." 

His father then said, You need not, ray 
son, give the whole world as the purchase 
money to enable you to adopt these words. 
Christ offers himself to you without money 
and without price. Only believe. Your 
conscience will then be at peace, and your 
soul will be made joyful in the Lord. 

Let your faith rest especially on this car- 
dinal doctrine of the atonement All saving 
knowledge centres in this. In the language 
of Dr. Spencer, "If our apprehensions and 
impressions about this are wrong, our reli- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 81 

gion will be wrong. In proportion to our error 
on this point, will be our unhappiness in 
Christian experience. If we do not catch the 
true spirit of the doctrine of the atonement, 
we shall not catch the true spirit of Christian 
life ; and if we live at all to Christ, then it 
will be a diseased and sickly life ; and, in- 
stead of resembling those who breathe the 
pure atmosphere that quickens a heavenly 
existence, we shall resemble those who 
breathe the poisoned and pestilent vapours 
that sometimes float even over the green 
fields of the Zion of God. 

u The atonement is the believer's breath of 
life. He can not take a step, he can not 
speak a word, he can not feel an emotion in 
religion, without it. It tempers all his hopes, 
his fears, his faith. It governs his humility, 
his peace, his love. It guides his gentleness, 
his goodness. It opens the fountain of his 
tears. It is the key-note of the song he 
sings. And when he goes forth to do good, 
it turns him from the track of the Levite and 
the Priest, to the better path of the good 



82 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Samaritan, who bears his oil and his wine. If 
this pervading principle becomes corrupted, 
all else will partake of the taint. If the 
truth of the principle be all lost, grace will 
not exist in the soul, and the soul will not 
be saved." 

The hour having arrived for family wor- 
ship, the conversation closed ; and Mr. James 
and Henry joined the rest of the household 
in the adjacent room, and engaged in their 
evening devotions. 



CONVERSATION III. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 

On the succeeding Sabbath, Henry James 
read, by his father's request, the first five 
chapters of Paul's epistle to the Eomans, as 
preliminary to their next conversation, 
which, Mr. James told him, would be on 
the doctrine of Justification. When the 
evening arrived, the time appointed for this 
conversation, Henry said: In reading those 
chapters, father, one thing which has struck 
me forcibly, concerning the doctrine of 
justification is, that it is closely connected 
with the death and resurrection of Christ. 
It seems like a continuation of our conver- 
sation on the atonement. 

Mr. James replied: Your impression is 
correct. The vicarious obedience and suffer- 
ings of Christ are the foundation and pro- 

(83) 



84 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

curing cause of our justification, and of 
course, we cannot discuss the subject of jus- 
tification, without referring constantly to 
Christ's mediatorial work. Thus, Chap. i. 
17: "For therein [that is, in the gospel] is 
the righteousness of God revealed from faith 
to faith; as it is written: The just shall 
live by faith." Chap. iii. 24-26: " Being 
justified freely by his grace, through the 
redemption, that is in Christ Jesus; whom 
God hath set forth to be a propitiation 
through faith in his blood, to declare his 
righteousness for the remission of sins that 
are past, through the forbearance of God ; to 
declare, I say, at this time, his righteous- 
ness ; that he might be just, and the justifier 
of him which believeth in Jesus." Chap. iv. 
25 : " Who was delivered for our offences, 
and was raised again for our justification." 
Chap. v. 1, 9 : " Therefore, being justified 
by faith, we have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Much more, then, 
being now justified by his blood, we shall 
be saved from wrath through him.' 7 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 85 

To justify a person, continued Mr. James, 
is to acquit him of any charge, to pro- 
nounce him righteous ; and yet in these very 
chapters, in which Paul discusses the doc- 
trine of justification, he proves conclusively, 
that all men are sinners, and under con- 
demnation. On ordinary principles of rea- 
soning, the inference would be, that our 
justification is impossible ; that we must 
for ever lie under the wrath of God. And 
this inference would be a necessary one, and 
our eternal ruin inevitable, except for the 
Divine plan of gospel justification. If the 
dying sinner leaves this glorious doctrine 
out of view, the prospect which opens be- 
fore him is a " fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and fiery indignation." When his con- 
science is awakened to a conviction of his 
guilt, this apprehension is distinctly felt. 

ALARM OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

It is. related of William the Conqueror, 
that on his death-bed he exclaimed, " Laden 

with many and grievous sins, I tremble. I 

8 



86 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

am about to be taken soon into the terrible 
examination of God, and I am ignorant of 
what I should do. I have been brought up in 
feats of arms from my childhood ; I am greatly 
polluted with the effusion of much blood ; I 
can by no means number the evils I have 
done these sixty-four years, for which I am 
now constrained without stay to render an 
account to the just Judge." 

King William's apprehensions were well 
founded. " Because God hath appointed a 
day in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness, by that man whom he hath 
ordained : whereof he hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
from the dead." Acts xvii. 31. Again, 
" We must all appear before the judgment 
seat of Christ : that every one may receive 
the things done in his body, according to 
that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." 2 Cor. v. 10. " So then every one of 
us shall give an account of himself to God." 
Bom. xiv. 12. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 87 

" Day of judgment, day of wonders ! 
Hark the trumpet's awful sound, 
Louder than a thousand thunders, 
Shakes the vast creation round ! 

How the summons 
Will the sinner's heart confound I" 

That famous warrior, said Mr. James, 
would have gladly given the laurels of a hun- 
dred victories, if he could have obtained 
thereby a saving knowledge of that single 
verse in Paul's epistle: " Therefore being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." And 
though the crimes of that hero may have 
been more enormous than those of many 
others ; yet there is no unconverted sinner 
on earth who would not feel similar appre- 
hensions in view of a future judgment, pro- 
vided, as I have just said, his conscience was 
duly awakened to a conviction of his guilt. 
The question then, " How shall man be just 
with God?" is one which concerns all; 
and it ought to be anxiously considered by 
the light of divine revelation. 



88 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

Henry James replied, I have frequently 
of late asked this question with reference to 
my own case. Though I have never com- 
mitted any crime against the laws of the 
land, I have often sinned against God, in 
thought, word, and deed ; in view of which 
I have felt like saying, "If thou, Lord, 
shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who could 
stand ?" I know I need a better righteous- 
ness than my own to commend me to God. 

This is true, said Mr. James, and the only 
righteousness which can avail you for this 
end, is the righteousness of Christ. 

MORALITY INSUFFICIENT TO JUSTIFY THE 
SINNER. — PHILIP III. OF SPAIN. 

It is not sufficient for you to say, (though 
it may be true,) that you are not as wicked 
as some others, and therefore you expect on 
this ground to be accepted of God. Philip 
III. of Spain, was so conscientious in ab- 
staining from vice, that he is reported to 
have said, that he would rather lose his king- 
dom, than knowingly offend God. He was 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 89 

also an observer of the outward forms of re- 
ligion. But lie relied on those things for 
justification, and not on Christ. Hence 
when he drew near death, and his mind was 
seriously turned to the account he must soon 
render to God, he exclaimed, " Would to 
God I had never reigned ! What doth all my 
glory profit, but that I have so much the 
more torment in my death ?" 

Moral and religious duties are important 
as fruits and evidences of piety, but if your 
piety is made to consist in these, it will be 
found wanting. In order to your justifica- 
tion by works, to say nothing of your cor- 
rupt nature, you must have abstained, during 
every moment of your life, from everything, 
in thought, word, and deed, which God's law 
forbids, and have performed everything 
which his law requires. It is obvious that 
no human being can be justified on this 
ground, for " all of us have sinned, and come 
short of the glory of God." 

You may now, Henry, if you please, re- 
peat the answer in your catechism to the 
8 * 



90 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

question, " What is justification ?" This an- 
swer contains a scriptural statement on this 
important subject. 

Henry repeated the answer, as follows: 
" Justification is an act of God's free grace, 
wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and ac- 
cepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for 
the righteousness of Christ imputed to us 

and received by faith alone." 

i 

GOSPEL JUSTIFICATION EXPLAINED. 

Mr. James continued, Justification includes 
pardon, the pardon of all our sins, actual and 
original ; our worst acts of sin, whether of 
thought, word, or deed ; and our inward pro- 
pensities to sin. Pardon is the same as for- 
giveness. "Blessed is he," says David, 
" whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin 
is covered." But pardon is not the whole 
of justification. It includes also the imputa- 
tion of Christ's righteousness. By the right- 
eousness of Christ is meant his whole media- 
torial work on earth, consisting of his perfect 
obedience to the divine law, and his endu- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 91 

ranee of its penalty in our behalf. Some- 
times the phrase merits of Christ, is used to 
signify the same thing as righteousness of 
Christ. But the two are not identical. By 
his merits are meant his personal excellence 
and dignity, by which his vicarious obe- 
dience and sufferings possessed infinite 
value, and formed a proper basis for the jus- 
tification of believing sinners. His merits 
were necessary for the perfection and suffi- 
ciency of his righteousness ; but his right- 
eousness (not his merits) is imputed to be- 
lievers for their justification. 

Henry. What is meant, father, by Christ's 
righteousness being imputed ? 

Father. To impute is employed in Scrip- 
ture as synonymous with count or reckon. 

" To him that worketh not, but believeth 
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith 
is counted for righteousness." ...%.." For 
we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham 
for righteousness." Compare Eom. iv. 5, 6, 
8, 9, 10; where impute, count, and reckon, 
are used interchangeably with each other. 



92 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Christ's righteousness is imputed to sin- 
ners when it is counted or reckoned to them 
by God ; when he accepts them as righteous 
in the eye of his law, on account of Christ's 
having met the demands of the law in their 
stead, and this imputation takes place when 
they, renouncing all reliance on their own 
works, and cordially approving of the gos- 
pel plan of justification, receive, and rest 
upon Christ, as the Lord their righteous- 
ness. These sentiments are expressed or 
implied in the following passages of Scrip- 
ture : " For what the law could not do, in 
that it was weak through the flesh, God 
sending his own Son in the likeness of sin- 
ful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the 
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might 
be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the spirit." "For he hath 
made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
sin ; that we might be made the righteous- 
ness of God in him." "And be found in 
him. not having mine own righteousness, 
which is of the law ; but that which is through 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 93 

the faith of Christ, the righteousness which 
is of God by faith." " For Christ is the end 
of the law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth." 

Mr. James remarked on these texts, that 
righteousness has respect to law. The right- 
eousness of the law, under the covenant of 
works made with Adam, was his own per- 
fect obedience ; but by his breaking that 
covenant, he and his posterity became sin- 
ners, and fell under the curse of God's law. 
Justification by works is therefore impossi- 
ble, because all are transgressors ; their best 
obedience is imperfect, and an imperfect 
conformity to the law falls short of that 
righteousness which the law requires. Thus 
the law became " weak through the flesh," that 
is, through our moral corruption. The law 
continues powerful to condemn, but weak 
to justify. Hence the necessity of a second 
covenant — of grace, by which the righteous- 
ness of the law was wrought out by our 
glorious substitute and surety ; a righteous- 
ness which was perfect, which fully satisfied 



94: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

the demands of God's law, and the benefits 
of which are enjoyed by believing sinners, 
through faith in Christ. He is the end of 
the law for righteousness to every one that 
believeth, and his obedience to the law in 
the place of believers, is accepted of God as 
though it had been rendered by themselves. 

FOLLY OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Mr. James remarked further : Those per- 
sons who seek justification by the deeds of 
the law, place themselves under the cove- 
nant of works. They endeavour to do for 
themselves, what holy Adam failed to ac- 
complish. They also virtually declare by 
this attempt, that so far as they themselves 
are concerned, there was no necessity for 
Christ's vicarious obedience and death. For 
as Paul says, " If righteousness come by 
the law, then Christ is dead in vain." It is 
therefore great folly and presumption for 
sinners to expect justification by their own 
merits, however moral and upright they 
may be, and, until they abandon all such 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 95 

expectation, they are not prepared to re- 
ceive Christ as their Saviour. Self-right- 
eousness was a common sin among the Jews, 
and it is assigned by Paul, as a reason why 
they refused to become christians. " Being 
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going 
about to establish their own righteousness, 
they did not submit themselves unto the 
righteousness of God." And this obstacle 
is now a most serious hindrance in the 
way of sinners' coming to Christ. Though 
reason itself is sufficient to teach them that 
they are sinners, and that their best works 
are imperfect, they proudly imagine that 
they can make atonement for their sins by 
self-mortification, and purchase heaven by 
their good deeds. And not until they are 
completely cured of this vain confidence in 
themselves, will they feel the necessity, and 
perceive the excellence and glory of Christ's 
righteousness. When they are brought to 
that deep contrition and self-abasement 
which characterized the publican, they will 
gratefully receive, and rest on Christ, as 



96 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

freely offered in the gospel. Their feelings 
when brought to this state of mind, are well 
expressed in a hymn, which is sometimes 
sung in our religious meetings : 

"How shall the sons of men appear, 
Great God, before thine awful bar ! 
How may the guilty hope to find 
Acceptance with the Eternal Mind ? 

"Not vows, nor groans, nor broken cries, 
Not the most costly sacrifice ; 
Not infant blood, profusely spilt, 
Will expiate a sinner's guilt. 

Thy blood, dear Jesus, thine alone, 
Hath sovereign virtue to atone ; 
Here we will rest our only plea, 
When we approach, great God, to thee." 

A HOTTENTOT PERCEIVING AND CONFESSING 

HIS SINS. 

Mr. James handed his son a religious pa- 
per, saying, Here is a short story of a heathen, 
whose religious experience may serve to 
show how you must feel in order to your 
appreciating and receiving Christ and his 
righteousness. Henry took the paper and 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 97 

read as follows: "A poor Hottentot in 
Southern Africa, lived with a pious Dutch- 
man, who kept up family prayer daily. One 
day he read, ' Two men went up into the tem- 
ple to pray.' The poor heathen, whose heart 
was already awakened, looked earnestly at the 
reader, and whispered, 'Now I'll learn how 
to pray.' The christian man read on, * God, 
I thank thee that I am not as other men — .' 
* No, I am not ; but I am worse,' whispered 
the Hottentot. Again the pious gentleman 
read, ( I fast twice in the week, I give tithes 
of all I possess.' 1 1 don't do that, I don't 
pray in that manner. What shall I do ?' said 
the distressed heathen. The good man read 
on, until he came to the publican, who 
1 would not lift so much as his eyes to hea- 
ven.' c That's m&,' cried the trembling 
pagan. ' Stood afar off,' read the christian 
man. c That's where I am,' said the Hotten- 
tot. * But smote upon his breast, saying, 
God be merciful to me a sinner,' continued 
the pious Dutchman. i That's me, that's my 

prayer,' cried the penitent heathen, and 
9 



98 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

smiting on his breast, he prayed, l God be 
merciful to me a sinner, 7 until, like the hum- 
ble and broken-hearted publican, he went 
down to his house, a saved and happy man." 
When Henry James had finished reading 
this anecdote, he said, How precious to that 
Hottentot would have been the sweet hymn 
we sang at family worship this morning ! I 
think the words would have made his heart 
glad. 

" When on the cross my Saviour died, 
God's holy law he satisfied ; 
My debts he paid, my sins he bore, 
And justice now demands no more. 

A healing balm his hand bestows, 
To cure my wounds, and ease my woes ; 
And a rich fountain still remains, 
To wash away my guilty stains." 

Doubtless, said Mr. James, these lines 
would have delighted him. He must have 
been instructed in the way of salvation pre- 
vious to this time, and now, if not before, he 
embraced Christ by faith, and became a jus- 
tified man. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 99 



HOW FAITH JUSTIFIES. 

How is it, father, said Henry James, that 
faith justifies the sinner — rather than repent- 
ance, love, humility, or any other grace? 

Faith is the instrument of the sinner's jus- 
tification, said Mr. James, because it receives 
and rests on Christ and his righteousness. 
Repentance is necessary to salvation ; and 
hence it always accompanies saving faith. 
It consists in godly sorrow for sin, followed 
by a turning from sin unto God. The duty 
of repentance is often inculcated in the Bi- 
ble. Our blessed Lord, and also his fore- 
runner, John the Baptist, commenced their 
public ministry by preaching repentance, 
saying, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand." In like manner, Peter, on the 
day of Pentecost, said to the multitude who 
were pricked in their hearts and inquired, 
" What shall we do ?" " Eepent and be bap- 
tized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of sins ;" and in 
another discourse, " Repent and be converted, 



100 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

that your sins may be blotted out." But 
though repentance leads the soul to seek God, 
as merciful and gracious, through the Lord 
Jesus Christ, it is not the grace by which 
the sinner lays hold on Christ. This is done 
by faith, and hence faith alone, and not re- 
pentance, is the grace by which the sinner 
is justified. 

For the same reason, faith justifies, rather 
than love, humility, or any other grace. 
Love views Christ as infinitely excellent and 
worthy. It is the grace that draws out the 
soul after him. But the act of receiving him 
is not performed by love, but by faith. Hu- 
mility is an essential requisite in the sinner's 
coming to Christ. It is one element in a 
broken heart, and a contrite spirit; concern- 
ing which David says, " The sacrifices of 
God are a broken spirit : a broken and a con- 
trite heart, God, thou wilt not despise." 
But though humility is important and ne- 
cessary, it is not the grace by which the sin- 
ner apprehends Christ ; and hence it is not 
the instrument of his justification. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 101 

It is manifest therefore, continued Mr. 
James, that faith does not justify, in conse- 
quence of its intrinsic excellence. If this 
were the case, these other graces would have 
a share in our justification, because they are 
inherently as excellent as faith. But the 
meritorious cause of our justification is 
Christ's righteousness imputed to us ; and 
his righteousness is received by faith alone. 
This fact shows the reason why our justifica- 
tion is declared to be by grace. " Being 
justified freely by his grace, through the re- 
demption which is in Christ Jesus." a By grace 
are ye saved, through faith." " It is of faith, 
that it might be by grace." Though the sin- 
ner cannot be justified by the deeds of the 
law; yet his justification must have respect 
to the law ; the righteousness of which having 
been wrought out by Christ, is set over to 
his account. This would seem to give the 
transaction a legal character; and in one 
view of the matter it is legal. God's law is 
so dear to him, that he must necessarily have 
respect to its claims in the gospel plan of 
9* 



102 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

justification. Still this plan is marvellously 
gracious ; — gracious in its inception, gra- 
cious in its execution, and gracious in the 
mode of applying its benefits to sinners by 
faith. As they have no merit of their own, 
and as their pardon and acceptance as right- 
eous, are derived solely from Christ, there 
is no other grace so well adapted as faith, to 
express their renunciation of every other 
ground of hope, and their entire reliance 
upon Christ. The language of faith is : 

" Nothing in my hand I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling, 
Naked, come to thee for dress, 
Helpless, look to thee for grace ; 
Vile, I to the fountain fly, 
Wash me, Saviour, or I die," 

Through faith, believers receive what is 
freely offered by a gracious God, and, in re- 
ceiving the gift, they virtually say that they 
ascribe all the glory of their salvation to his 
rich and adorable grace. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 103 



WHAT IS SAYING FAITH ? 

The subject of faith, said Henry James, 
is very interesting to me. I have often felt 
almost ready to say, " Lord, I believe ;" but 
before the words were uttered, the question 
would occur to me, What is faith ? Concern- 
ing which, my mind has hesitated, and been 
in doubt. Please explain to me, father, the 
nature of saving faith. 

Mr. James replied: Saving faith must 
have Christ for its object. Some persons 
may tell you to submit to God. I have 
heard this language used in the pulpit. In- 
deed, it is Scripture language, and is very 
important in the connection in which it is 
employed by the sacred writers. But they 
never use it when directing a sinner how to 
be saved. On this point they uniformly 
speak and write to the following effect : "Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." Submission to God's au- 
thority is a religious duty, and it follows 
genuine faith. Yet if inculcated by itself, 



104 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

it falls short of saving faith. Submission 
to God as our moral governor, might be 
inculcated by a Deist, without changing his 
religious views ; whereas it is essential to a 
man's being a Christian that he have faith 
in God's Son. You ought therefore to dis- 
tinguish between these two things, if you 
would understand the nature of saving 
faith. 

Again : faith in Christ fe more than a 
mere belief of the doctrine that Christ is the 
Saviour of sinners ; that he is divine, and, 
that having assumed our nature, he died as 
an atoning sacrifice. In addition to your 
belief of these truths, you must cordially 
approve of them, and embrace them. " With 
the heart," Paul says, " man believeth unto 
righteousness." These words imply that 
the heart is convinced of its sinfulness and 
danger, and is moved thereby to seek an 
interest in Christ. Insensibility and indif- 
ference are incompatible with saving faith, 
because the sinner never looks to Christ for 
pardon until convicted of sin. " The whole 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 105 

need not a physician, but they that are 
sick." And though diseased, they will not 
apply to a physician, until they perceive 
themselves to be diseased and are alarmed 
at their condition. When the sinner is 
awakened by the Holy Spirit to feel his lost 
and ruined state, and is enlightened to per- 
ceive the ability and willingness of Jesus to 
save — to save him, though the chief of sin- 
ners ; then, and not before, is his guilty and 
anxious heart prepared to trust in Christ 
for salvation. His simple trust in Christ 
alone, under this state of mind, according 
to the scriptural account, is saving faith. 
He must look entirely without himself or 
anything he has done, and rest on Christ 
alone. 

Mr. James then appealed to Henry, and 
asked him whether he could not trust in 
Christ. Henry hesitated to make a reply ; 
but at length said : I have often repeated 
the hymn, commencing with the verse, 
" Just as I am — without one plea, 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 



106 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

And that thou bid'st me come to thee, — 
Lamb of God, I come." 

I feel a desire to come to Christ ; some- 
times I think I can adopt these words as my 
own ; but at other times I fear they are re- 
peated as a form, without any special move- 
ment of my heart towards Christ. I have 
likewise frequently repeated the words of 
Scripture, " Lord, I believe ;" but I could 
not do this, without adding what follows, 
viz : " Help thou mine unbelief." 

Mr. James remarked in reply : If, Henry, 
you truly " hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness," Christ's promise is, that you 
" shall be filled." Your desire to come to 
Christ is therefore an encouraging sign ; and 
if, in the language of the hymn alluded to, 
you are willing to come just as you are, and 
to offer no plea but Christ's atoning blood 
and perfect righteousness, you give evidence 
of possessing saving faith, and consequently 
of being in a justified state. Sometimes a 
person who truly believes, does not enjoy 
the comfort of faith, from his not understand- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN'. 107 

ing fully that the inward act of the soul 
which constitutes this grace, is simply taking 
Christ at his word, accepting his invitation, 
and relying on his promise. Do this, and 
you will obtain relief. 

SAVING FAITH ILLUSTRATED. 

Many illustrations have been given of 
saving faith, some of which are better adapt- 
ed to particular cases, and some to others. 
In some instances the difficulty consists in 
the want of a proper apprehension of the in- 
finite sufficiency of Christ's atonement. A 
man who was in trouble of mind, and much 
harassed as to the nature of true faith, 
stated to his pastor, that his fears had been 
great, that he had sinned beyond the reach 
of mercy ; but that while he was thinking on 
the subject, that portion of scripture was 
suggested to his mind, "The blood of Jesus 
Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin ;" and 
that resting on this truth he found comfort. 
The minister very properly told him that 
this was true faith. 



108 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

In other cases, the sinner does not trust in 
Christ alone, but partly in himself, and as 
long as he does this, his anxiety is not re- 
lieved. To such a case, the explanation of 
a pious sailor to his comrade, who was in- 
quiring the way of salvation, was very ap- 
propriate. "Faith," said he, "is not any- 
thing you have done, or can do ; it is believ- 
ing and trusting to what Christ has done ; it 
is forsaking your sins, and trusting for their 
pardon, and the salvation of your soul, be- 
cause he died and shed his blood for sin ; and 
it is nothing else." 

Others, again, fail to appropriate to them- 
selves the invitations and promises of God's 
word. 

A minister of the gospel who had been 
conversing with a young lady in much dis- 
tress about her soul,. at length said to her, 
" Perhaps you do not understand precisely 
what you are to believe. You say that you 
think Christ is willing to save unto the ut- 
termost all that come unto God through him. 
Now coming to God through him is trusting 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 109 

with all your heart in the promises which he 
has made ; it is believing from your inmost 
soul that he is willing to save you ; according 
to his promise, * Him that cometh to me, I 
will in no wise cast out.' " u Is that faith V 
she exclaimed. " Why did I never see this be- 
fore?" From that moment she trusted in 
Christ, and found joy. As previously inti- 
mated, the experience of that young lady, 
when distinctly analyzed, appears to indi- 
cate that she had not hitherto appropriated 
the invitations and promises of Christ to 
herself; but that now she was enabled to do 
this, and accordingly obtained relief. She 
now felt like poor Joseph in the tract, 
whose whole religious experience consisted 
in repeating with deep emotion, " ' This is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners ;' poor Joseph is a sinner, and there- 
fore he came to save me. 11 

10 



110 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH SECURES PEACE 
WITH GOD. 

Henry James appeared to be much inter- 
ested in his father's remarks and illustrations 
on the subject of faith ; and he inquired fur- 
ther, Please tell me, father, how faith in 
Christ brings relief and comfort to the anx- 
ious soul. 

Mr. James replied : Faith in Christ is the 
instrument of the sinner's justification ; and 
when he becomes justified, he is at peace 
with God. Thus Paul says, Eom. v. 1. 
u Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." As 
I have already noticed, God's justifying a 
sinner consists in his pardoning his sins, 
and accepting him as righteous, on account 
of the righteousness of Christ imputed to 
him. When God pronounces a sinner just, it 
is equivalent to declaring that such a person 
is at peace with him ; that he is no longer 
his enemy, but his friend. This declaration 
is made in his word, with regard to every 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. Ill 

sinner who believes in Christ. But the di- 
vine act of justification, in each particular 
case, is not always known to the individual 
the moment he believes ; because the exer- 
cise of faith is not a matter of such clear 
and distinct consciousness, that he can im- 
mediately feel assured of its existence in the 
heart. But sooner or later, God communi- 
cates this knowledge by his Spirit, called the 
Spirit of adoption, whereby the believer is 
enabled to say, " Abba, Father." He then 
possesses the evidence in his own soul that 
lie has true faith, and hence that he is in a 
justified state ; that his sins are forgiven, and 
that God has accepted his person. As a 
fruit of this evidence of God's love, his anx- 
iety and fear are succeeded by peace of 
conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

Mr. James remarked further, that the be- 
liever's peace of conscience does not arise 
from his ceasing to feel that he is a sinner. 
He never does cease to feel this. But though 
he is always sensible of his guilt and un- 
worthiness, and always sees in himself cause 



112 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

for humility and self-abasement; yet his be- 
lief that his sins are pardoned, and that he 
is accepted of God through the merits of 
Christ, removes that distress of mind which 
he had previously felt while relying for jus- 
tification, either wholly or in part, on his 
own righteousness, and thus seeking to be 
saved by the old, broken covenant of works, 
instead of the new covenant of grace. So 
long as a sinner trusts to his own works, he 
need not expect to obtain peace of con- 
science ; because he cannot avoid feeling, if 
truly convinced of sin, that his own works 
are insufficient to deliver him from con- 
demnation. The language of the law is, 
" Cursed is every one that continueth not 
in all things which are written in the book 
of the law, to do them ;" from which Paul 
argues, that " as many as are of the works 
of the law, are under the curse ;" that is, 
those who rely on the old covenant of works 
are under condemnation, and they cannot 
deliver themselves from it by any atone- 
ment they can offer, or any works of right- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 113 

eousness which they can perform. They 
may fast and pray — they may give alms, 
and even lacerate their bodies ; but their 
anxious souls obtain no satisfactory and 
permanent comfort, until by the illumina- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, they obtain, and 
cordially embrace, scriptural views concern- 
ing this glorious doctrine of justification by 
faith. 

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF LUTHER. 

On this point, continued Mr. James, the 
life of the great Eeformer, Martin Luther, 
furnishes an instructive illustration. For 
two years or more after he began to study 
the Bible, he was in great distress and an- 
guish of spirit, owing, chiefly, to an erro- 
neous impression that he must work out a 
righteousness of his own, in order to com- 
mend himself to God's favour. I will not 
undertake to decide at what time he first 
exercised saving faith. The existence of 
faith in the heart may be compatible with 

much ignorance and superstition. Admit- 
10* 



114: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ting, as some think, that he was a true be- 
liever, at or about the beginning of the two 
years now to be noticed ; then his severe and 
anxious spiritual struggles during that 
period show the injurious effect of a false 
religious creed, with regard to a sinner's 
justification, in obscuring his mind, and 
preventing him from enjoying the comfort 
of an enlightened and scriptural belief on 
this subject. 

Here, Henry, said Mr. James, is a volume 
of D'Aubigne's History of the Eeformation. 
I have marked ten or twelve pages, contain- 
ing his religious experience at this period. 
As you have listened to me for some time, 
I will now listen to you, while you read 
this interesting account. The substance of 
what Henry read is as follows, though much 
abridged : 

Luther, being oppressed with a sense of 
his sins, retired to a cloister, that by pray- 
ers, masses, abstinence, and other austerities, 
he might obtain peace of conscience. Here 
he found a Bible, (the second he had ever 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 115 

seen,) and from it lie learned with astonish- 
ment, that "the just shall live by 
faith." But not being able to understand 
its true import, this text was to him, for a 
time, a source of terror, rather than of com- 
fort. He read the Scriptures diligently, and 
performed, from day to day, many acts 
which he regarded as meritorious, but with- 
out having a clear view of the gospel plan of 
salvation, or deriving any comfort from his 
supposed meritorious acts. Having occa- 
sion to visit Eome, he stopped for a few 
days, on his way thither, at a monastery, 
where the same words came to his mind 
with extraordinary power, "the just shall 
live by faith." But still the precious 
truths which these words conveyed, were 
very partially comprehended ; though he 
began to suspect that they were at variance 
with that plan of justification by works 
from which he had, in vain, been seeking 
relief. 

Luther, arriving at Eome, and learning 
that an indulgence was promised by the 



116 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Pope, to all who should ascend, on their 
knees, what is called Pilate's staircase ; he 
began to creep up those steps, which he was 
informed, had been transported in a mira- 
culous manner from Jerusalem to Eome. 
While he was thus engaged in what he re- 
garded as a meritorious act, the thought which 
had come to his mind twice before with tre- 
mendous force, now entered his inmost soul : 
"the just shall live by faith." He 
arose in amazement from the steps, up 
which he was dragging his body ; he shud- 
dered at himself; he was ashamed at seeing 
to what a depth his superstition had plunged 
him. He fled from the scene of his folly ; 
he was enabled, in due time, to comprehend 
that righteousness which alone can stand 
before God; and he received for himself, 
from the hand of Christ, that obedience 
which God, of his free gift, imputes to the 
sinner, as soon as he raises his eyes, with 
humility, to the crucified Son of Man. 

The wonderful change which was pro- 
duced in Luther's feelings by these new, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 117 

scriptural views of Divine truth, and his 
cordial reception of it by faith, may be best 
stated in his own words : " Although I 
was a holy and blameless monk, my con- 
science was nevertheless full of trouble 
and anguish. I could not endure those 
words, l the righteousness of God? I had no 
love for that holy and just God who pun- 
ishes sinners. I was filled with secret anger 
against him. I hated him, because not con- 
tent with frightening by the law, and the 
miseries of life, us wretched sinners, already 
ruined by original sin, he still further in- 
creased our terror by the gospel." 

"But when by the Spirit of God I understood 
those words ; when I learned how the justi- 
fication of the sinner proceeds from the free 

mercy of our Lord, through faith," 

" then I felt born again, like a new man ; I 
entered, through the open doors, into the 
very paradise of God. Henceforward, also, 
I saw the beloved and holy Scriptures with 
other eyes. I perused the Bible. I brought 
together a great number of passages that 



118 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

taught me the nature of God's work. And, 
as previously I had detested with all my 
heart, these words, 'the righteousness of 
God,' I began from that hour to value them, 
and to love them, as the sweetest and most 
consoling words in the Bible. In very 
truth, this language of Paul was to me the 
true gate of Paradise." 

Henry James manifested deep emotion 
while reading this narrative of Luther's ex- 
perience. He perceived that there was one 
point especially, which suited his own case. 
He had been, to some extent, going about to 
establish his own righteousness, and had Dot 
submitted himself, wholly and exclusively, 
to the righteousness of God. He requested 
his father to pray for him, that he might be 
cured of this legal spirit, and be assisted by 
Divine grace, to trust entirely in the Ee- 
deemer, and in his perfect righteousness, a 
believing view of which imparted such light 
and comfort to the mind of Luther. With 
this request, Mr. James immediately com- 
plied, and the conversation closed. 



CONVERSATION IV. 

OUR MORAL IMPOTENCE, AND THE NECESSITY 
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO RENEW THE HEART, 
IN ORDER TO THE EXERCISE OF FAITH IN 
CHRIST. 

Within a few days, a decided change ap- 
peared to have taken place in Henry James's 
mind. This was indicated by his cheerful 
countenance, and also by his singing several 
times, when alone in his room, the follow- 
ing lines: 

11 How happy are they 

Who the Saviour obey, 
And have laid up their treasure above ! 

Oh ! what tongue can express 

The sweet comfort and peace 
Of a soul in its earliest love !" 

When he and his father met on Sabbath 
evening, agreeably to appointment, to con- 



120 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

verse further on the doctrines of grace, Mr. 
James asked Henry whether he had obtained 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Henry replied that he hoped he 
had. I think, said he, I can trust in Christ 
as the only Saviour of sinners. I desire no 
other Saviour, and I feel happy in being 
able to say, " My Eedeemer is mine, and I 
am his." 

Mr. James expressed his gratitude to God 
for his grace thus bestowed on his son ; re- 
marked that he hoped he was not deceived 
with regard to the nature of the change 
which had been wrought in him ; that he 
must carefully and prayerfully examine 
himself, &c, and then added, If, Henry, you 
are a genuine believer in Christ, you are 
prepared from your own experience, to give 
your assent to the great truth, which will 
form the subject of our present conver- 
sation, viz: that our union with Christ 
by faith, is not produced by our own 
strength, but by the power of God, who re- 
news our hearts by his Spirit, and persuades 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 121 

and enables us to embrace Christ as our only 
Eedeemer. 

Henry James replied : I am convinced, 
father, that the change wrought in me, is 
the work of the Holy Spirit. No effort of 
mine could have so changed the current of 
my moral feelings — have given me such new 
views of Christ, and of God's holy word, 
and have imparted spiritual comfort to my 
anxious heart. I can truly say from my in- 
most soul : " Not unto me, Lord, not 
unto me ; but unto thy name give glory." 

THE BELIEVER'S SENSE OF OBLIGATION AND 

l 
DEPENDENCE ILLUSTRATED. 

Mr. James remarked: What you now 
say of your obligations to God, and your 
dependence on his grace, accords with the 
experience of every true Christian. I have 
never known one who did not feel and speak 
thus, when thanking God for his mercy to 
his own soul, or when giving utterance to 

his pious emotions in other forms of de- 
ll 



122 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

votional feeling. That favourite hymn, com- 
mencing, 

li Jesus, lover of my soul ;" 
is often employed by God's people to ex- 
press these sentiments. The Eev. Dr. John 
Chester, a former minister of the Presby- 
terian Church, an eloquent preacher, and a 
delightful singer, used frequently, during 
his life, to give out to his congregation this 
hymn, and when singing in private circles, 
as he often did, he would name this hymn 
among the first to be sung ; insomuch that 
the hymn was called by some, "Dr. Chester's 
hymn." He expressed not only his own feel- 
ings, but those of all true believers in Christ, 
when he sung, 

11 Other refuge, have I none, 
Hangs my helpless soul on thee ;* 

and not less so, when with a countenance 
beaming with animation, he came to the 
closing stanzas : 

u Thou of life the fountain art, 
Freely let me take of thee ; 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 123 

Spring thou up within my heart, 
Rise to all eternity." 

ERROR CONCERNING HUMAN ABILITY. 

But though a sense of obligation to Divine 
grace, said Mr. James, is felt by all real 
Christians, yet some, in arguing on the sub- 
ject of human ability, and who even profess 
to be Calvinists, appear to talk differently 
from the language of that hymn. They are 
not willing, for instance, to use the word 
unable, or other terms of similar import, 
lest they should seem thereby, to impair the 
obligation of sinners to repent and believe in 
Christ, and the obligation of Christians to 
become perfectly holy. A gentleman once 
spent a Sabbath in our family. After 
Church he remarked to me that his pastor 
did not pray as I did. In what respect ? 
said I. He does not pray that God would 
enable sinners to give their hearts to him. 
He assumes that they are able already, and 
he prays that God would persuade them. I 
replied that I used both terms — persuade and 



121 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

enable, and that both are employed in our 
Catechism, which his pastor professed to re- 
ceive as containing a correct statement of 
Scripture doctrine ; and if it was scriptural 
to use the word in preaching, it was equally 
so to use it in prayer. I referred him to the 
last clause of the answer to the question, 
What is effectual calling ? — " He [the Holy 
Spirit] doth persuade and enable us to em- 
brace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the 
gospel." I told him I did not quote this lan- 
guage asbeing equal in authority with the holy 
Scriptures ; but as expressing what is held 
to be scriptural by the Presbyterian Church, 
and as being therefore a proper phraseology 
to be used in Presbyterian pulpits. 

Henry James remarked: I have lately 
heard a preacher assert that sinners have a 
natural ability to repent of sin, and come to 
Christ without the Holy Spirit. His main 
argument to prove it was, that repentance 
and faith are commanded duties, but that 
God cannot justly command his creatures to 
do what they are unable to perform. By 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 125 

the same argument he attempted to prove 
that Christians are able to become perfectly 
holy. God, he said, commands them to be 
perfect, to be holy as he is holy ; which com- 
mand, he affirmed, would be unjust, if a com- 
pliance with it were above their natural 
ability. 

Mr. James replied : That style of preach- 
ing must have sounded very strange to you, 
who have been instructed very differently 
from this. Will you repeat the answer to 
the question in your Catechism, " Is any man 
able perfectly to keep the commandments 
of God ?" Henry repeated the answer, as 
follows: "No mere man, since the fall, is 
able in this life, perfectly to keep the com- 
mandments of God ; but doth daily break 
them, in thought, word, and deed." 

Mr. James continued : Did the minister 
you heard preach, explain what he meant 
by the term natural, before ability ? 

I think he did, father, said Henry ; he said 

it was the opposite of moral. 

And did he say that sinners have moral 
11 * 



126 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ability to repent, &c. ; and that Christians 
possess moral ability to be perfectly holy, 
or only natural ability ? 

He admitted, said Henry, that they have 
not the moral ability, without the gracious 
aid of the Holy Spirit. 

The distinction between natural and moral 
ability, said Mr. James, should not be disre- 
garded, and yet it is not so important in 
preaching the gospel, as some imagine. The 
ability, for example, which was held by the 
minister alluded to, is of no practical value j 
because, by his own admission, it never leads 
to any saving results. He doubtless thought 
he gained something by this distinction, in 
convincing the sinner of his obligation to 
love God, and of his guilt in refusing to 
yield his heart to him. But this is very 
questionable ; for the sinner might reply : 
" If my natural ability is unable to overcome 
my moral inability, I am as really impotent 
in the matter of my conversion, and as de- 
pendent on the Holy Spirit to renew my 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 127 

heart, as though my natural ability were left 
out of view." 

The tendency of the depraved heart, said 
Mr. James, is far greater towards a legal 
spirit, which leads the sinner to over-esti- 
mate his ability to rescue himself by his 
own efforts, from his fallen state, than it is 
to go to the opposite extreme of feeling too 
weak and helpless, and too dependent on 
Divine grace. Hence there is generally 
greater need of convincing the sinner that 
he is unable to do anything to merit God's 
favour, than that he has natural ability to 
love God ; which assertion, when it comes to 
be accurately defined, means no more than 
the possession of the faculties of a rational 
and accountable being, capable of loving 
and serving God ; and this no one denies. 
The argument, that God cannot justly de- 
mand of the sinner what he has no ability 
to perform, may, if thus explained, be ad- 
mitted as true ; meaning by ability, the pos- 
session of adequate faculties ; but this does 
not meet the point for which it is adduced. 



128 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

This assertion amounts to no more than the 
obvious truth, that God cannot justly require 
an idiot, or a brute, or a machine to perform 
the duties of a free, moral agent. 

The doctrine of the sinner's inability, 
ought to be so presented as not to afford any 
ground of excuse for his unbelief, or his 
continuance in sin. But with this qualifica- 
tion, it is of the greatest importance that he 
be made to feel his entire dependence on 
God's grace for the beginning, progress, and 
completion of his salvation. This feeling 
will seldom fail, under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, to produce that humility and 
prostration of soul, which form an essential 
element in a saving change. 

DOCTRINE OF ABILITY TESTED 'BY ITS EF- 
FECT. 

In order to test this matter, place yourself 
on your knees before God. When is it that 
you feel in the best frame of mind to offer 
prayer? Is it when you are disposed to 
rely, in part, on your own strength ? or 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 129 

when you are deeply sensible of your weak- 
ness, and the necessity of Divine grace ? 
The Scotch-woman's prayer, when crossing 
a deep stream of water, may serve to illus- 
trate the difference. Finding herself sink- 
ing, she cried out, like Peter, " Lord save, or 
I perish." But after struggling a short time, 
and being so near across, that her feet touched 
the bottom, she said, " Lord, I will trouble 
thee no more ; I can help myself now." An- 
other illustration, of a more serious charac- 
ter, is found in the prayers of the Pharisee 
and Publican ; the one showing a feeling of 
self-reliance, and the other of impotence and 
unworthiness. You know which of these 
was disapproved, and which justified. 

IMPOTENCE OF THE SINNER PROVED FROM 
GOD'S WORD. 

Mr. James further remarked : The impo- 
tence of the sinner to originate holy exer- 
cises, is distinctly indicated in God's word, 
and this impotence is taught in such con- 
nections as to show that the sacred writers 



130 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

felt no difficulty in teaching, at the same 
time, the obligation of the sinner to love 
and serve God. Joshua exhorted the peo- 
ple, saying, "Now therefore, fear the Lord, 
and serve him in sincerity, and in truth." , 
. . . " And the people answered, and said, 
God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, 
to serve other Gods." . . . . " And Joshua 
said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the 
Lord, for he is an holy God," &c. By this, 
he meant that they could not serve a holy 
God without new hearts ; and that in forming 
a resolution to serve him, they must feel 
their dependence on his grace, and not at- 
tempt this service in their own strength. 

When the Jews asked our Lord, " What 
shall we do, that we might work the works 
of God ?" " Jesus answered and said unto 
them, This is the work of God," [that is, the 
work which God requires of you: See 
1, Johniii.23.] "that ye believe on him whom 
he hath sent." But immediately afterwards, 
in the same conversation, he said, " No man 
can come to me, except the Father which 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 131 

hath sent me, draw him." And before the 
close of his conversation he repeated the 
words in a little different form: " No man 
can come unto me, except it were given 
unto him of my Father." Christ thus enjoin- 
ed the duty of faith, and at the same time, 
taught them that they were in themselves 
impotent, and must humbly rely on Divine 
grace to enable them to perform this duty. 

Henry James remarked : The minister 
to whom I alluded, had for his text, the 
words, "Ye will not come to me, that ye 
might have life." He affirmed that the can- 
not, in the passages you have quoted, means 
the same as the will not, in his text ; that 
the sinner's unwillingness is the only obsta- 
cle in the way of his coming to Christ, and 
that he has the ability to come at any mo- 
ment if he will. 

Mr. James replied : Unless the sinner 
has also the ability to will, he is still spirit- 
ually impotent. But Paul says, " The car- 
nal mind is enmity against God ; for it is 
not subject to the law of God ; neither, in- 



132 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

deed can be." The sense of this passage is 
given in our Confession of Faith, in the fol- 
lowing words: "Man, by his fall into a 
state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of 
will to any spiritual good accompanying sal- 
vation ; so as a natural man being altogether 
averse from that good, and dead in sin, is 
not able, by his own strength, to convert 
himself, or to prepare himself thereto." 

ILLUSTRATION OF THE SINNER'S OPPOSITION 
TO GOD. 

The opposition of the unrenewed heart to 
God, is not as manifest in some persons as in 
others, and where it is equally apparent, it 
is not always acknowledged as frankly as in 
the case of a youth, whose religious experi- 
ence I saw in print some years ago. On his 
applying to be received into the communion 
of the church, he was asked by the pastor: 
" Do you think that you have been born, 
again ?" He replied, " I think I have." " If 
so," said the pastor, " whose work is that ? 7? 
"Oh," said he, "God did a part, and I did a 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 133 

part." " All ! what part did you do, Sam- 
my ?" " Why, I opposed God all I could, 
and he did the rest." 

The words of Christ : " Ye will not come 
to me, that ye might have life," teach the 
sinner's criminality, and hence that his im- 
potence must be so understood as not to 
palliate his guilt. But it is a perversion of 
their meaning, to infer from them that the 
sinner is able to come to Christ without the 
aid of the Holy Spirit. Nor is it a correct 
interpretation of the passage to make it 
teach that the sinner's depravity lies exclu- 
sively in the will. All that it teaches is 
that the will is depraved, without saying 
anything concerning the other moral facul- 
ties. But the Bible asserts elsewhere, that 
the understanding is depraved, as well as 
the will. Thus, Paul says, " The natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
of God; for they are foolishness unto him ; 
neither can he know them, because they are 
spiritually discerned." "Neither can he 

know them." How could he teach in more 
12 



134: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

express terms the sinner's inability to dis- 
cern spiritual things ? Again : the affec- 
tions are also depraved. Says the prophet, 
" The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked." This is equiva- 
lent to asserting that our affections are sin- 
ful, because the heart is the seat of the affec- 
tions. The truth is, that our depravity 
extends to our whole moral nature, and the 
power to recover ourselves from this ruined 
state, is not in us, but must be sought in 
God alone, whose prerogative it is, to 
" quicken" sinners "who were dead in tres- 
passes and sins," to " put a new spirit with- 
in them," and "to deliver them from the 
power of darkness, and translate them into 
the kingdom of his dear Son." 

The following stanzas, which are so often 
sung in public worship, express the feelings 
of all who are truly and savingly convinced 
of sin. The words contain a distinct confes- 
sion of our own moral weakness, and our 
reliance on the efficacy of Christ's blood. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 135 

u To the dear fountain of thy blood, 
Incarnate God, I fly ; 
Here let me wash my spotted soul, 
From crimes of deepest dye. 

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 

On thy kind arms I fall ; 
Be thou my strength and righteousness, 

My Jesus and my all." 

VIEWS OF THE REFORMERS. 

Mr. James then remarked, further : TPAu- 
bign^'s History of the Reformation, from 
which, in our last conversation, you read 
Luther's experience on the subject of 
Justification, contains, also an interesting 
account of the views of the Reformers, con- 
cerning our moral impotence as sinners, and 
the necessity of the Holy Spirit to renew 
the heart. I have marked several passages 
for your perusal. If you please, you may 
read them now. Henry James read aloud 
several pages of which the following is an ab- 
stract, as the whole is too long for this place. 

"The helplessness of man — the omnipo- 
tence of God, were the two truths that Lu- 



136 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ther desired to establish. That is a sad 
religion, and a wretched philosophy, by 
which a man is directed to his own natural 
strength. Ages have tried in vain this so 
much boasted strength, and while man has, 
by his own natural powers, arrived at great 
excellence in all that concerns his earthly 
existence, he has never been able to scatter 
the darkness that conceals from his soul the 
knowledge of the true God, or to change a 
single inclination of his heart. The highest 
degree of wisdom attained by ambitious 
minds, or by souls thirsting with the desire 
of perfection, has been to despair of them- 
selves. It is therefore a generous, a com- 
forting, and supremely true doctrine, which 
unveils our own impotency, in order to pro- 
claim a power from God by which we can 
do all things." . . . . " The first, the noblest, 
the sublimest of all works, says Luther, is 
faith in Jesus Christ. It is from this work, 
that all other works must proceed." .... 
But, " where can we find this faith, and how 
can we receive it? This is, in truth, what 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 137 

it is most important to know. Faith comes 
solely from Jesus, who was promised and 
given freely." 

Carlstadt, the companion of Luther, held 
a public debate with Eck, a prominent Eo- 
man Catholic priest, on the subject of free 
will * Carlstadt maintained the proposition 
which Eck denied, that "man's will before 
his conversion can perform no good work ;" 
that " every good work comes entirely and 
exclusively from God, who gives him first 
the will to do, and then the power of accom- 
plishing ;" according to that Scripture which 
says, " It is God which worketh in you, 

* By free will, the Reformers did not mean free- 
dom of the will. This was believed and maintained 
by them, as firmly as by their adversaries. They meant 
by free will, a native power in man to recover himself 
from the ruins of the fall, without the special grace of 
God. This was held by Pelagius, and more or less by 
the Romanist Bishops and Priests generally, in the time 
of Luther. He, and his coadjutors, considered it as 
dangerous and ruinous to souls, and laboured with all 
their might to refute and overthrow it. 

u 

12* 



138 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

both to will and to do, of his good plea- 
sure." 

A few years afterwards, Melanchthon pub- 
lished his celebrated work, " On the Common 
Places of Theology ;" the like to which, it 
has been thought, had not been seen for fif- 
teen hundred years. He maintained that 
" man's justification before God proceeds 
from faith alone, and that this faith enters 
man's heart by the grace of God alone." 

A little later, the German princes, in the 
name of the Protestant churches, presented 
to the Emperor, Charles V., and the Diet at 
Augsburg, their immortal Confession of 
Faith, drawn up by Melanchthon, and read 
by Bayer, one of the chancellors of the Elec- 
tor of Saxony, in the presence of a large au- 
dience, composed of the most distinguished 
personages in Germany. In this Confession 
they say, " As regards free will, we confess 
that man's will has a certain liberty of ac- 
complishing civil justice, and of loving the 
things that reason comprehends ; that man 
can do the gcfod that is within the sphere of 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 139 

nature — plough his fields, eat, drink, have a 
friend, put on a coat, build a house, take a 
wife, feed cattle, exercise a calling, as also 
he can of his own movement, do evil, kneel 
before an idol, and commit murder. But we 
maintain that, without the Holy Ghost, he 
cannot do what is righteous in the sight of 
God." 

After the meeting of this Diet, Luther 
wrote, "I am overjoyed that I have lived 
until this hour, in which Christ has been 
publicly exalted by such illustrious Con- 
fessors, and in so glorious an Assembly." 
That Confession was widely circulated, not 
only in Germany, but in other countries of 
Europe, and it made an extraordinary im- 
pression on the public mind. Even the 
Romanists were compelled to admit that 
they could not refute it by an appeal to the 
Scriptures alone, but must resort to the 
Fathers and Ecclesiastical Councils ; which 
circumstance drew from the Duke of Bava- 
ria, a Roman Catholic prince, the caustic 
remark, addressed to Eck, " I understand ! I 



140 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

understand ! The Lutherans, according to 
you, are in Scripture, and we are outside." 

After Henry James had finished reading 
these extracts from D'Aubigne's History, he 
said : This doctrine, father, appears to have 
possessed remarkable power to move the 
hearts, and call forth the exertions of the 
Eeformers, and yet I have heard it objected 
to the doctrine of the creature's impotence, 
and of his dependence on God, that its ten- 
dency is injurious ; that it is a hindrance to 
the sinner's endeavours to become religious, 
and discourages the use of the means of 
grace. 

A CONVICTION OF OUR IMPOTENCE IS NOT IN- 
JURIOUS, BUT BENEFICIAL. 

Mr. James remarked : Self-righteous ef- 
forts, that is, efforts which are prompted by 
a legal spirit, ought to be discouraged ; be- 
cause they hinder the sinner from com- 
ing to Christ. Paul said of the Jews, 
that " they, being ignorant of God's right- 
and going about to establish 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 141 

their own righteousness, have not submitted 
themselves unto the righteousness of God ;" 
that is, they did not embrace Christ, who 
" is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth." This too, was 
Paul's own experience prior to his conver- 
sion. He relied on the old covenant of 
works ; he was proud of his good deeds, and 
not till his self-righteous spirit was humbled, 
by a conviction of his ruined and helpless 
condition, did he feel the necessity of a bet- 
ter righteousness than his own, to justify 
him, and of greater power than he possessed, 
to renovate his depraved nature. " For I 
was alive without the law, once ; but when 
the commandment came, sin revived, and I 
died. And the commandment which was 
ordained to life, I found to be unto death." 
Paul's meaning is, that with his former 
view of the law, and his outward observance 
of its precepts, he thought he was doing 
quite well. Yet he was really " without the 
law ;" that is, he had no just conception of 
its spirituality. But when he perceived the 



142 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

extent of its requirements, and his own in- 
ward want of conformity to its demands of 
perpetual and perfect obedience, he " died ;' 7 
that is, he relinquished all hope of salvation 
from the works of the law, and was thus 
prepared to appreciate and accept the pro- 
vision of the gospel. 

To this state of mind, must every sinner 
be brought, before he will truly understand, 
approve, and receive the gospel plan of justi- 
fication; and hence, so far as the doctrine of 
human inability operates to discourage works 
of self-righteousness, and produce, in con- 
nection with a conviction of demerit, a deep 
sense of dependence on God's grace, so far 
it is adapted to benefit, and not to injure the 
inquiring soul, in obtaining an interest in 
Christ. A willingness to become nothing, 
and to do nothing, except to trust in Christ 
alone, as the Lord our righteousness, is the 
first and essential work of the sinner, ac- 
cording to the text before quoted. " This is 
the work of God, that ye believe on him 
whom he hath sent." And this work is per- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 143 

formed, if ever done at all, as the fruit of 
divine grace. " By grace are ye saved, 
through faith, and that not of yourselves ; 
it is the gift of God." 

A BELIEF OF OUR IMPOTENCE IS NO HIN- 
DRANCE TO A PROPER, SCRIPTURAL USE OF 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 

With regard to the use of the means of 
grace, Mr. Jarnes remarked : 

1. That the invitations of the gospel, ad- 
dressed to sinners, assume their impotence 
and their dependence on divine grace, and this 
dependence is made the ground of their en- 
couragement to seek help from God. u 
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in 
me is thy help." 

2. A conviction of our own impotence 
will prompt the soul to cry out for Divine 
help, like Peter, when sinking in the waves, 
whose language was, " Lord, save, or I 
perish !" 

3. A sense of helplessness, with aconviction 
of demerit, is necessary in order to render 



144 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

the use of the means of grace of any avail. 
u God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace 
to the humble." 

From these several considerations, it is 
clear that the doctrine of the sinner's de- 
pendence furnishes a sufficient motive to 
induce him to use the means of grace, with 
this important advantage over the doctrine 
of human ability, that the means employed 
with a feeling of dependence on God, will 
be successful; whereas, the use of means 
under the influence of a belief that the sin- 
ner is able of himself to do all which God 
requires, will foster pride and self-confidence, 
and produce (if any change results from it) 
a spurious conversion. The difference be- 
tween the two, is therefore of the most se- 
rious character, affecting favourably or un- 
favourably the eternal welfare of the soul. 
" It is the Spirit that quickeneth," says our 
Lord, " the flesh profiteth nothing." As 
though he had said, It is not by a carnal 
view of Christ that he becomes the bread 
and water of life to the hungry and thirsty, 



TUE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 145 

but by a spiritual apprehension, produced 
by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

* The Spirit, like some heavenly wind, 
Blows on the sons of flesh, 
New models all the carnal mind, 
And forms the man afresh." 

Henry James now asked his father to ex- 
plain the nature of that change which is 
wrought by the Holy Spirit in the sinner's 
conversion. 

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Mr. James remarked : You have a scrip- 
tural account of this change in your Cate- 
chism, which you may repeat. It is the 
answer to the question, " What is effectual 
calling ?" Henry repeated the answer, as 
follows: u Effectual calling is the work of 
God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our 
sin and misery, enlightening our minds in 
the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our 
wills, he doth persuade and enable us to em- 
brace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the 
gospel." 

13 



146 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Mr. James then said : When speaking in 
a previous conversation, of the divinity of 
Christ, I alluded also to the divinity of 
the Holy Spirit, with an intimation that I 
would say more concerning it, at another 
time. This is the proper place to state more 
fully the scripture doctrine on this point. 
When your Catechism asserts that effectual 
calling is the work of God's Spirit, it means 
that this change is not only the result of a 
divine influence, but the work of a divine 
person, viz : the third person in the adorable 
Trinity. As a divine person, God's Spirit is 
distinct from the Father and Son, yet the 
same in essence with them. So the Bible 
distinctly teaches. The apostle John says, 
" There are three that bear record in hea- 
ven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy 
Ghost, and these three are one." Our 
Lord joins the three together in Chris- 
tian baptism, in such a manner as to show 
that they have a distinct personality, and 
yet are essentially the same. His cpmmand 
was, to baptize " in the name of the Father, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 147 

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
Notice : " In the name" that is, the one 
name, God, or Jehovah ; yet subsisting mys- 
teriously in three persons, the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost. Of the same 
purport is the apostolical benediction : "The 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 
of God, and the communion of the Holy 
Ghost, be with you all." In these words, as 
well as in the two preceding quotations, it 
Would violate the most obvious rules of 
biblical interpretation, to make Father and 
Son persons, and the Holy Ghost only an 
attribute, or influence ; and it would be 
equally erroneous, to prove from these texts 
the supreme deity of the Father and Son, 
and yet deny the divinity of the Holy Ghost. 
The three persons are all co-equal, co-essen- 
tial, and co-eternal. 

What difference does it make, father, said 
Henry, whether regeneration be the work 
of the first, second, or third person in the 
Holy Trinity, provided we ascribe this work 
to God, and not to ourselves ? 



148 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Mr. James replied : One important differ- 
ence lies in this ; that the Scriptures assign 
to each person in the sacred Trinity a dis- 
tinct part in the recovery of man from his 
fallen and ruined state. The Son, and not 
the Father, came into the world and died 
for our sins. And the Holy Ghost, and not 
the Father or Son, applies the redemption 
purchased by Christ to the hearts of sinners. 
A different view from this, confounds what 
God has revealed in his word, as being sepa- 
rate and distinct ; and by confounding the 
work of the three persons, we confound the 
persons themselves, and virtually destroy 
the distinction of persons in the Godhead, 
thus making the Bible teach Unitarianism, 
instead of evangelical Christianity. 

The pious John Bunyan, in answer to 
the question, What is the doctrine of the 
Trinity ? replied : u It is that doctrine that 
showeth us the love of God the Father in 
giving us his Son, the love of God the 
Son in giving himself, and the love of 
the Lord, the Spirit, in his work of regene- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 149 

rating us that we may be made to lay hold 
of the love of the Father by his Son, and so 
enjoy eternal life by his grace." Again, 
" The Father's grace saveth no man without 
the grace of the Son ; neither do the Father 
and the Son save any without the grace of 
the Spirit ; for as the Father loves, the Son 
must die, and the Spirit must sanctify, or no 
soul must [can] be saved." This statement 
of Bunyan expresses clearly the scriptural 
distinction between the three persons in the 
Godhead, and the part performed by each 
in the great and wonderful scheme of our 
salvation. 

Mr. James continued : The impotence of 
the sinner to renew his own heart, and the 
nature of the change to be wrought, render 
it necessary that the Holy Spirit should be 
a divine person, in order to perform this 
work. It is called a new creation, a quick- 
ening of those dead in trespasses and sins, 
and the exertion of the same power by 
which Jesus Christ was raised from the 
grave; none of which acts could be performed 

13* 



150 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

except by a Divine being. Though the 
change from nature to grace, is not a physi- 
cal, but a spiritual change, and though the 
power employed is not material, but moral ; 
yet God alone, who created the human soul, 
can gain effectual access to it, and do that in 
it and for it, by which faith is produced, 
and in such a way as to do no violence to 
our moral nature, nor abridge our free 
moral agency. The Holy Spirit must there- 
fore be God. 

EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

Mr. James now returned to the question, 
What is effectual calling ? on which he re- 
marked that the first thing done by the 
Holy Spirit in bringing a sinner to Christ, 
is to convince him of his sin and misery. 
11 They that are whole, need not a physician, 
but they that are sick. I came not to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'' 
God employs various means, especially his 
word, to convict the soul of its sinful and 
ruined condition ; but the only efficient 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 151 

agent is the Holy Spirit, who renders the 
word and other means of grace effectual to 
this end. The state of mind to which the 
sinner is brought, in this first step, is well 
described by the case of the prodigal son, 
who, on returning to his father, said : " Fa- 
ther, I have sinned against heaven, and in 
thy sight, and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son." Also by the case of the 
publican, who " smote upon his breast, say- 
ing, God be merciful unto me a sinner." 

But even when thus convicted of sin, the 
sinner walks in darkness, until the Holy 
Spirit enlightens his mind in the knowledge 
of Christ. He is like Hagar, who, when 
wandering with her son, Ishmael, in the wil- 
derness of Beersheba, was reduced to the 
greatest extremity for want of water, and 
placing her child under a shrub, and sitting 
down at a distance, that she might not wit- 
ness his expiring agonies, she lifted up her 
voice and wept. There was a well of water 
near her, but she perceived it not, till " God 
opened her eyes," when she saw the well, 



152 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

and gave the lad drink. So Christ is brought 
nigh to us in the gospel ; but the anxious 
sinner does not discern his suitableness and 
sufficiency as a Saviour, until enlightened 
by the Holy Spirit, who " shines in the 
heart, to give the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
The Holy Spirit likewise renews the will. 
" Thy people shall be willing in the day of 
thy power." To be willing involves a 
choice of God as our supreme good ; not a 
choice consisting in a simple volition, or 
act of the will, in the strict sense of the 
term; but a choice which includes desire 
and affection. These were comprehended 
by the old writers on Mental Philosophy, in 
a proper definition of the will, which they 
understood as being that faculty which de- 
sires as well as chooses. And in this par- 
ticular, those writers conformed to Scripture 
usage. David prays, " Deliver me not over 
unto the will of mine enemies." Here will 
is equivalent to power or control, and it in- 
volves ill will, hostility. So its opposite, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 153 

good will, is sometimes implied in the term 
will. Paul says, " If I do this thing 57 [viz: 
preach the gospel] " willingly," [that is, cor- 
dially, " with good will, doing service,"] " I 
have a reward; but if against my will," 
[that is, my good will, or cordial inclina- 
tion,] " a dispensation of the gospel is com- 
mitted unto me. " Again, he says, "To will is 
present with me;" [that is, I have an abiding 
desire to be conformed to God's holy law,] 
" but how to perform that which is good I 
find not." In renewing the will, the Holy 
Spirit changes the carnal mind, which is 
enmity against God, into devout love and 
adoration. He " puts a new spirit within " 
the heart of the sinner, and "takes away the 
stony heart out of his flesh, and gives him a 
heart of flesh." He thus removes his moral 
impotence, gives him a new disposition, and 
enables and persuades him to choose God as 
the portion of his soul, and Jesus Christ as 
the only foundation of his hope. 

Henry James now said : You have de- 
scribed, father, my own experience, as far as 



154 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

I am able to state the exercises of my mind, 
for some time past. Are all believers in 
Christ led to him by these several steps ? 

Mr. James replied : Those particulars all 
belong to a full description of a saving 
change ; but they do not always occur in 
this order. The vital question is not which 
of them you felt first, or second, or third ; 
but whether you have really felt them all ? 
If you have truly experienced them, in 
whatever order it may be, then you have 
scriptural ground to conclude that you have 
passed from death unto life. The religious 
experience of Christians has been remarka- 
bly uniform, in a substantial agreement on 
the main points embraced in our present 
conversation, even when their creeds were 
not in exact harmony with each other. 
Their prayers and devotional hymns, also, 
breathe the same sentiments. This is one 
reason why I have quoted so much poetry. 
This has been, in every instance, that kind 
of poetry which expresses the inward feel- 
ings of God's people, and it therefore carries 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN*. 155 

conviction of its truth to every pious heart. 
I shall quote more, hereafter, and for the 
same reason. 

EXPERIENCE OF JAMES MONTGOMERY. 

The distinguished poet, James Montgom- 
ery, though he did not profess to be a Cal- 
vinist, was thoroughly one in his inward 
convictions, if not in theory. He was con- 
scious of his entire depravity and alienation 
from God ; his moral weakness to perform 
anything spiritually good, and the necessity 
of his being conquered by Divine power, in 
order to his being saved. These ideas could 
scarcely be expressed in stronger language 
than that employed by him. His religious 
experience furnishes an apposite illustration 
of the power of God's grace in convicting, 
renewing, and comforting the heart. I will 
mention some incidents in his life, touching 
these points. 

Henry James, asking pardon for inter- 
rupting his father, said, Please, father, in- 
form me, before you proceed, whether Mr. 



156 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Montgomery to whom you allude, is the au- 
thor of that fine poem you presented to me, 
entitled, "The World before the Flood." 
I shall be more interested in the narrative, 
if I know this. Mr. James replied in the 
affirmative, and repeated a remark of Mrs. 
Montague : " We have the World before 
the Flood, — but we have, also, the World 
after the Flood," alluding to Mr. Montgom- 
ery's hymns and minor poems, which have 
more endeared his name to the Christian 
world, than his larger and more brilliant 
poem which you so much admire. Mr. 
James then proceeded with the narrative, as 
follows: 

Mr. Montgomery's father was a Moravian 
minister, who, together with his wife, was 
sent as a missionary to the West Indies. 
Upon their departure, he placed his son 
James, then a small boy, at a Moravian 
school, at Fulneck, Scotland. James, having 
remained there some years, and not exhibit- 
ing much fondness for study, was apprenticed 
to a pious Moravian tradesman. But after 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 157 

eighteen months, he abruptly left him, to 
seek his own fortune. He engaged in busi- 
ness, passed through many trying scenes, 
wrote poetry, became an editor, and was 
twice imprisoned for some political articles 
which issued from the press, under his con- 
trol. During these trials he had many reli- 
gious impressions, and he often communi- 
cated his feelings in letters to his brother 
and other friends. In one of these letters, 
he wrote thus : " Brother ! how is it possi- 
ble that I should hesitate an instant ? Why 
have I not, since I began to write this letter, 
already by an act of that faith, which is 
the power of God communicated to his crea- 
tures, and to which all things are possible — 
why have I not already decided my condi- 
tion for eternity ? Is there anything more 
mysterious in the whole mystery of iniquity, 
than that a man shall be deeply, dreadfully 
convinced of sin, and believe, almost with- 
out daring to make a reserve, in all the 
threatenings and judgments of God — yet 
have no confidence in his promises and de- 

14 



158 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

clarations of mercy ? And this is my case, 
as nearly as I can express it. Yet I do not, 
and I dare not utterly despair, when I look 
at God ; but I do and must despair, when I 
look at myself; and my everlasting state de- 
pends upon the issue of the controversy be- 
tween him and me. If he conquers, I shall 
be saved ; if I prevail against him, I perish." 

How strong, and yet how sincere and 
earnest is this statement ! Eecollect, it was 
not made by Mr. Montgomery, in the form 
of doctrinal belief, but of inward experience, 
showing that a conviction of his guilt and 
helplessness, and his entire dependence on 
God, was produced in his mind, not only by 
the written word, but by the Holy Spirit. 

Yet his conviction of dependence on God, 
said Mr. James, did not prevent him from 
using the means of grace. It seems rather 
to have produced the opposite effect, viz : to 
prompt and encourage him to perform reli- 
gious duties. He was a devout readerof the 
holy Scriptures, retired daily for secret prayer, 
attended regularly the public worship of God, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 159 

and engaged witli diligence in promoting the 
welfare of society. God at length imparted 
comfort to his anxious and desponding 
heart, and he united himself to that branch 
of the church (the Moravian) in the bosom 
of which he had been nurtured in his youth 
and childhood. The occasion of his recep- 
tion into the church, was one of peculiar 
joy and gratitude to God. In a letter to his 
brother, he said, " Eejoice with me for this 
unspeakable privilege, bestowed on so un- 
worthy and ungrateful a prodigal as I have 
been." He also expressed his feelings in 
view of this event, by composing those 
beautiful stanzas which are now sung with 
delight by thousands of young converts. 

" People of the living God, 

I have sought the world around, 
Paths of sin and sorrow trod, 
Peace and comfort nowhere found. 

Now to you, my spirit turns — 

Turns, a fugitive unblest ; 
Brethren, where your altar burns, 

Oh, receive me into rest. 



160 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Lonely I no longer roam, 

Like the cloud, the wind, the wave ; 

Where you dwell shall be my home, 
Where you die shall be my grave. 

Mine the God whom you adore, 
Your Eedeemer shall be mine ; 

Earth can fill my soul no more — 
Every idol I resign. " 

Henry James now remarked with much 
emotion : These lines, father, express my 
own feelings and purposes. Eelying on Di- 
vine strength, I have come to the fixed reso- 
lution to renounce the world, and devote 
myself to the service of God. 

Mr. James expressed the hope that he 
might receive grace to lead a devout and 
holy life ; and, after engaging in prayer, they 
separated for the night. 



CONVERSATION V. 

SANCTIFICATION. 

Mr. James had intimated to his son Henry, 
that they would next converse on the sub- 
ject of Sanctification; and in view of this, he 
prepared and preached a discourse from the 
text, " Sanctify them through thy truth — 
thy word is truth." With sanctification for 
his general theme, his special design was to 
show the sanctifying efficacy of Divine truth, 
and particularly the doctrines of grace. All 
moral and religious truth, Mr. James re- 
marked, has a sanctifying tendency ; but 
this is particularly so, of that class of truths, 
which are comprehended under the doctrines 
of grace ; which proposition he proved and 
illustrated by several considerations. To 
this discourse, he found, on resuming the 

subject, Henr\' had paid close attention, as 
14* (161) 



162 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

he was able to repeat much of it with accu- 
racy. 

Henry James commenced the conversa- 
tion by saying : In your discourse this 
morning, father, you proved the sanctifying 
tendency of the Calvinistic system of doc- 
trines, in a clearer and more satisfactory 
manner than I have ever heard before. The 
sermon has made a strong, and I hope a 
profitable, impression on my mind. Your 
reasoning appeared to me very conclusive. 
And then you selected such appropriate 
words to sing. I enjoyed them much. One 
of the verses I remember now : 

" ' Tis thine to cleanse the heart, 
To sanctify the soul, 
To pour fresh life on every part, 
And new create the whole." 

Mr. James replied : I will ask you, in the 
course of this conversation, to repeat the 
reasons which I assigned, why the doctrines 
of grace have a sanctifying tendency. But 
there are several other points which should 
be noticed first, according to the method I 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 163 

pursued in discussing this subject, begin- 
ning with the question, What is sanctifica- 
tion ? 

Henry James remarked : I remember you 
answered this question in your discourse, 
by repeating the words of the Shorter Cate- 
chism. " Sanctification is the work of God's 
free grace, whereby we are renewed in the 
whole man after the image of God, and are 
enabled more and more to die unto sin, and 
live unto righteousness." 

Yes, said Mr. James, I repeated this an- 
swer, because it contains a scriptural defini- 
tion of sanctification, and the consideration 
of its several parts presents a clear view of 
the whole subject. 

HOW SANCTIFICATION STANDS BELATED TO 
REGENERATION, AND TO FAITH IN CHRIST. 

It is important, continued Mr, James, that 
we have a clear understanding of the ex- 
act relation of sanctification to the com- 
mencement of the Christian life. We begin 
the Divine life by regeneration, which is a 



164 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

spiritual change wrought instantaneously, 
by the power of God. Without this change 
there can be no sanctification ; just as there 
can be no progress in anything without a be- 
ginning. The first act of the new-born soul, 
and simultaneous with the existence of 
spiritual life, is faith in Christ ; which, as 
stated in a former conversation, " is a saving 
grace, whereby we receive and rest upon, 
him alone for salvation, as he is freely of- 
fered to us in the gospel." In receiving 
and resting upon Christ, we trust in him 
for sanctification, as well as for justification. 
Saving faith is one. We do not, on our 
first reception of Christ, trust in him for 
pardon, and, subsequently, by a distinct and 
separate act, trust in him for sanctification. 
Our salvation involves our deliverance from 
the power and pollution of sin, as well as 
its guilt and condemnation, and hence we 
cannot be Christians at all, unless we have 
faith in Christ for sanctification, as well as 
for justification. This is the definition of 
saving faith, as given in the Confession of 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 165 

Faith of the Presbyterian Church. "The 
principal acts of saving faith, are, accepting, 
receiving, and resting upon Christ alone, for 
justification, sanctification, and eternal life, 
by virtue of the covenant of grace." 

Perhaps the anxious sinner, when he first 
receives Christ by faith, is more deeply af- 
fected with the thought of having received 
the forgiveness of sins, than as having been 
favoured with the principle of a new and 
holy life, to be developed in the work of 
sanctification; and if this feeling continues 
to hold the preponderance, it will be an im- 
pediment to his progress ' in holiness. But 
if he is truly born again, if he exercises 
that faith by which he can safely infer his 
justification before God, he has a faith which 
is in its very nature, sanctifying ; and hence, 
if he supposes himself to be a regenerated 
man, to have trusted in Christ for salvation, 
and to have received the pardon of his sins, 
and yet finds in his heart, no trust in Christ 
for the sanctification of his soul, he may 



166 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

justly conclude that lie has deceived him- 
self with regard to his religious experience. 

SANCTIFICATION MUST NOT BE CONFOUNDED 
WITH THE FULL ASSURANCE OF HOPE, OR 
THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Henry James inquired whether some per- 
sons, when they speak of being sanctified, 
do not intend thereby the full assurance of 
hope, or the witness of the Holy Spirit that 
they have been born again. 

Mr. James replied : I have noticed its 
use in this sense, in one or two instances ; 
but it is adapted to mislead, because this is 
not its ordinary meaning when employed 
by Calvinistic writers, and because, by using 
the term in this sense, and connecting there- 
with, in the same sense, the phrase, "full 
salvation," which is also done, we are liable 
to be understood, as agreeing with perfec- 
tionists, who have appropriated this phrase- 
ology to express their peculiar views. If, 
therefore, we mean the full assurance of 
hope, or the witness of the Spirit, better say 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 167 

so, and not substitute therefor sanctification, 
nor full salvation. The full assurance of 
hope is the strong, undoubting confidence 
of our being the heirs of heaven ; and of the 
same nature, is the assurance indicated by 
the witness of the Spirit. But sanctification 
is not an inward impression of our being 
Christians, but the character which true 
vital religion produces, consisting of a 
growing conformity, both in our hearts and 
lives, to the will of God. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SANCTIFICATION AND 
JUSTIFICATION, 

Henry James asked further : Is sanctifi- 
cation similar in its nature to justification ? 
If not, please, father, explain the difference. 

Justification, said Mr. James, consists in 
the forgiveness of sins, and the acceptance 
of our persons as righteous, by the imputa- 
tion of Christ's righteousness. Sanctifica- 
tion is the purification of our souls from the 
defilement of sin, and our habitual growth 
in grace. The Papists disregard this dis- 



168 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

tinction, and make justification and sanc- 
tification substantially the same; which 
they define as consisting of righteousness 
infused, and not of righteousness imputed. 
The difference is great and serious. By 
thus putting sanctification in the place of 
justification, they necessarily hold that 
we are not fully justified until we are 
perfectly sanctified, and hence they im- 
pose various austerities, such as prayers, 
fastings, self-lacerations, &c, in order to 
supply the defects of a partial justification. 
Sanctification always succeeds justification ; 
but it is a pernicious heresy to confound 
them together, by making the two identical. 
Christ's righteousness is thereby degraded, 
as though it did not possess sufficient merit 
for our justification, and human merit is un- 
duly magnified, by the assumption that our 
religious acts possess an intrinsic virtue to 
atone for our sins, at least in part, and to 
commend us to God's favour. The differ- 
ence between the two is well expressed 
in the Catechism, to which I refer you. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 169 

DOES SANCTIFICATION INCLUDE GOOD WOEKS ? 

Henry James inquired again, whether 
good works properly come under the head 
of sanctification. 

Mr. James replied : They might be so 
included, but the two are not identical. 
Good works are means, evidences, and fruits 
of sanctification, rather than sanctification 
itself. Yet the term sanctification, taken in 
a wide and comprehensive sense, embraces 
not only the inward work of grace, but also 
its outward manifestations. The last clause 
in the answer you have repeated from the 
Catechism, viz : " living unto righteousness, 1 ' 
comprehends all the moral and relative 
duties belonging to a religious life. But I 
shall consider good works under a distinct 
and separate head, partly because this is the 
usual method, and partly for the purpose of 
giving more prominence to the phrase, good 
works, in order to show their true position 
in the plan of salvation by grace, and their 
relation to the doctrine of justification by 
faith. 

15 



170 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

The other part of the definition, " dying 
unto sin," or sanctification in its more re- 
stricted sense, though involving every good 
work which is enjoined in the holy Scrip- 
tures, relates more directly to the state of 
the heart, from which good works proceed, 
as the legitimate fruit of inward grace. Dying 
unto sin consists in the mortification of our 
corrupt affections and desires, of our carnal 
and worldly lusts, and this invariably re- 
sults in living unto righteousness ; that is, 
living in the exercise of pure and holy de- 
sires and affections, and in the practice of 
holy duties. If, therefore, the two clauses 
are taken together, then dying unto sin may 
be described as the purifying of a polluted 
fountain, or as the restoration of a corrupt 
and decaying tree to a sound and healthy 
state ; and good works, or living unto right- 
eousness, may be described as the streams 
which flow from that fountain, thus purified, 
or as the fruits produced by that tree, thus 
rendered wholesome and good. 

The apostle Paul mentions dying unto 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 171 

sin, and living unto righteousness, in the 
same passage, and he teaches that both pro- 
ceed from Divine grace, as their vital princi- 
ple. " The grace of God that bringeth sal- 
vation, hath appeared to all men ; teaching 
us that denying ungodliness and worldly- 
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly, in this present world." Again, 
M Knowing this, that our old man is cruci- 
fied with him, that the body of sin might be 
destroyed; that henceforth we should not 
serve sin." "But now being made free 
from sin, and become servants to God, ye 
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end, 
everlasting life." In the present conversa- 
tion I will consider only what belongs to 
sanctification, in its restricted sense, viz : 
as consisting of growth in grace. 

SANCTIFICATION INCLUDES THE WHOLE MAN ; 
IT IS GRADUAL AND PROGRESSIVE. 

Mr. James then remarked : Sanctification 
includes the whole man — both soul and 
body : " And the God of peace sanctify you 



172 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and 
soul, and body be preserved blameless unto 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The 
11 spirit and soul " are sanctified, when our 
moral tempers, affections, and powers, are 
brought under the sway of holy principles. 
And the " body " is sanctified, when it is de- 
livered from the control of sinful appetites 
and lusts, and is made the instrument of 
righteousness unto God. See Eom. vi 
12, 13. 

The sanctification of the whole man is 
forcibly described in the following quota- 
tion from the Eev. Thomas Watson, an 
evangelical English divine : " Have earthly 
kings their image stamped upon the public 
coin ? But doth not Christ, as King, do a 
greater thing than that in causing his image 
to be drawn upon the heart of every one of 
his subjects ? Is it not also the prerogative 
of this king to engrave his laws upon the 
hearts of his subjects ?" The process, how- 
ever, is not instantaneous, but gradual. When 
his image and his laws shall be completely 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 173 

engraved on the hearts of his people, they 
will be wholly sanctified, and he will 
then place them as jewels in his heavenly 
crown. 

Do you say, father, that sanctification is a 
gradual and progressive work? 

Yes, Henry. The Scriptures plainly teach 
this. Says Paul: "For which cause we 
faint not ; but though our outward man 
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day 
by day." Again : " We all, with open face, 
beholding as in a glass, the glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image, from 
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord." In regeneration, as before stated, 
there is wrought an instantaneous spiritual 
change; the principle of holiness is im- 
planted in the soul. In sanctification, this 
new and holy principle is gradually devel- 
oped and perfected, until the character is 
fully restored to the moral image of God. 

15* 



174 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

EVIDENCES OF SANCTIFICATION — DR. GRIF- 
FIN. 

"Would you know the evidences of sancti- 
fication, or growth in grace? They are 
such as the following : increasing hatred of 
sin ; a growing attachment to God's people ; 
greater love for the Bible and devotional 
duties; a stronger desire for the progress of 
Christ's kingdom ; increasing resignation to 
God's will, and a more spiritual and hea- 
venly frame of mind. Most, if not all, of 
these marks have characterized eminent 
saints in all ages. The Eev. Dr. Griffin 
says, in his diary, " The three strongest de- 
sires which have habitually influenced me 
for years are : (1.) To be delivered from sin. 
If this could be, I could bear anything, and 
be happy in poverty and disgrace. (2.) To 
enjoy God. I think I long more for this 
than for riches or honours, and would give up 
everything for it. (3.) That God's kingdom 
may come. When I hear anything favour- 
able to Zion, my heart is glad." These 
marks, though included under three particu- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 175 

lars, embrace in reality, nearly all those 
which I have mentioned. Those who were 
acquainted with that eminent minister, knew 
him to be a growing Christian. 

Henry James listened with much attention 
to these remarks, and said, I think, father, 
that I desire my own sanctification. In my 
Scripture readings, such texts as the follow- 
ing have excited in my mind a special in- 
terest : " Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
and renew a right spirit within me." "That 
he would grant you, according to the riches 
of his glory, to be strengthened with might 
by his Spirit in the inner man." "Lord, 
increase our faith," and many others. Those 
hymns also which breathe the same senti- 
ments I love to repeat. One of them con- 
tains the following verse : 

u Draw me from all created good, 
From self, the world, and sin, 
To the dear fountain of thy blood, 
And make me pure within. " 

Mr. James replied : You may probably 
meet with some who will call you a bigot, 



176 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

if they see you endeavouring conscientiously 
to carry into practice the feelings you now 
express. But you must not be influenced 
by any such insinuations. The maxims and 
fashions of the world are adverse to a strictly 
religious life. Even some who make a profes- 
sion of religion argue in favour of what they 
call in practice, a liberal Christianity. But you 
must obey God rather than man. Make Christ 
your example, and not those who, if they fol- 
low him at all, follow him afar off. Do not, 
however, imagine that a holy life requires 
moroseness or melancholy. Far otherwise. 
A sanctified heart forms the most lovely, at- 
tractive, and happy character known upon 
earth. I do not mean that it is attractive to 
vicious and worldly men. They hated 
Christ, who was a perfect model of moral 
excellence. But though such persons may 
view you with an evil eye, let not their 
blindness, or prejudice, or hatred prevent 
you from exhibiting in your temper and 
conduct, " whatsoever things are true, what- 
soever things are honest, whatsoever things 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 177 

are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
soever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
are of good report." In short, make it your 
constant endeavour to have "the same mind 
that was also in Christ Jesus ;" " who was 
holy, harmless, and undefiled." Though 
perfect sanctification is not attained in this 
life, there may, and ought to be a constant 
growth in grace ; and our incentives for daily 
progress in sanctification are not weakened by 
the fact, that the desired attainment is not 
fully possessed till we arrive at heaven. 

SANCTIFICATION IS IMPERFECT ON EARTH. 

Henry James asked his father, whether 
the Scriptures teach that sanctification is, in 
all cases, imperfect on earth. 

Mr. James replied : Yes, unless where 
the term perfect is used in a qualified and 
subordinate sense. When it denotes entire 
freedom from all sin, perfect sanctification 
has never existed on earth since the fall, ex- 
cept in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Solomon says, " There is no man that sinneth 



178 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

not." 1 Kings viii. 46. Again : " Who 
can say, I have made my heart clean, I am 
pure from my sin ?" Prov. xx. 9. Again : 
" There is not a just man upon earth that 
doeth good and sinneth not." Eccl. vii. 20. 
Paul says, " I find then a law, that when I 
would do good, evil is present with me. For 
I delight in the law of God after the inward 
man : But I see another law in my members 
warring against the law of my mind, and 
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, 
which is in my members." Eom. vii. 21-23. 
John says, " If we say that we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 



SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF THE WORD PERFECT. 

Henry. Please tell me, father, what is the 
meaning of the word perfect^ as used in the 
Bible. 

Mr. James answered : The sense of the 
term is modified by the connection in which 
it stands. Sometimes it must be understood 
comparatively. Thus Noah and Job were 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 179 

perfect, in comparison with those around 
them. At other times it denotes sincerity 
and consistency. This is the meaning of 
the Psalmist, when he says, " Mark the per- 
fect man, and behold the upright ; for the end 
of that man is peace." Sometimes it signifies 
symmetry and entireness in the develop- 
ment of our religious character. It is thus 
used by James in the words, "That ye may 
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 
Again, it denotes, in some instances, ma- 
turity in our attainments, both intellectual 
and spiritual. Says Paul, " I speak wisdom 
among them that are perfect." And further : 
" That the man of God may be perfect, tho- 
roughly furnished unto all good works." 
Again, it signifies freedom from those obstruc- 
tions which impede the exercise of any par- 
ticular grace. Thus John says, " There is no 
fear in love ; but perfect love casteth out fear : 
because fear hath torment. He that feareth 
is not made perfect in love." 

But finally the term perfect is sometimes 
employed to mark the highest standard of 



180 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Christian attainment at which we ought to 
aim, and then it is not connected with such 
qualifying clauses as are expressed or im- 
plied in the examples above given ; but is 
used in an absolute sense, with no other in- 
feriority to the moral perfection of God, 
except what is implied in our being crea- 
tures. " Be ye, therefore, perfect," says our 
Lord, " even as your Father which is in hea- 
ven, is perfect." In this sense of the word, 
Paul affirmed concerning himself: " Not as 
though I had already attained, either were 
already perfect : but I follow after, if I may 
apprehend that for which also I am apprehend- 
ed of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not my- 
self to have apprehended ; but this one thing I 
do, forgetting the things which are behind, 
and reaching forth unto those things which are 
before, I press towards the mark for the prize 
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 

SOLILOQUY OF THE REV. JOHN NEWTON. 

This experience of Paul, continued Mr. 
James, accords with the feelings of the most 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 181 

devoted Christians. It is related of the Kev. 
John Newton, that when his eyes had become 
dim with age, and when the following Scrip- 
ture was read to him : " By the grace of God, I 
am what I am," he uttered this touching 
soliloquy : "lam not what I ought to be. 
Ah ! how imperfect and deficient ! I am not 
what I wish to be. I abhor that which is 
evil, and I would cleave to that which is 
good. I am not what I hope to be. Soon, 
soon, shall I put off mortality, and with 
mortality, all sin and imperfection. But 
though I am not what I ought to be, what I 
wish to be, and what I hope to be, yet I can 
truly say, I am not what I once was — a slave 
to sin and Satan; I can heartily adopt the 
words of the apostle, and acknowledge with 
gratitude and praise, ( By the grace of God, 
I am what I am.'" 

IMPORTANCE OF SANCTIFICATION. 

Henry James gave a fixed attention to 
these remarks, and said, Wherein, father, 
lies the importance of sanctification ? 

16 



182 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN*. 

Mr. James replied: Sanctification, or 
progressive holiness, is an essential charac- 
teristic of genuine piety, which Christ com- 
pares to '"leaven hid in three measures of 
meal till the whole is leavened." A religion 
which does not sanctify the heart, is with- 
out vitality, and consequently, it possesses 
no saving power. " Without holiness, no 
man shall see the Lord." And holiness is 
not a mere state, but a life; and hence where 
there is a genuine change of heart, a holy 
life will as certainly succeed it, as the func- 
tions of natural life will succeed the posses- 
sion of the vital principle. 

FEELINGS OF A PIOUS NOBLEMAN. 

As soon, therefore, as a sinner is renewed 
by divine grace, his earnest desire and daily 
effort will be to avoid sin. The feelings 
expressed by a pious nobleman, will be, in 
some good degree, Ms feelings ; not as strong 
and courageous it may be, as those of Count 
Godomar, but of the same general character. 
4 He feared nothing," he said, "so much as sin, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 183 

and whatever liberties he had formerly 
taken, he would rather now submit to be 
torn in pieces by wild beasts, than know- 
ingly or willingly commit any sin against 
God." 

Sanctification is also important, said Mr. 
James, from the fact that the Christian's 
growth in grace is pleasing to God, who re- 
quires him to be holy ; it does honour to the 
Holy Spirit, who is the author of his sancti- 
fication ; and it reflects the image of Christ, 
who is the model to which believers are to be 
conformed. 

Again, sanctification furnishes a con- 
vincing proof of the truth and excellence of 
religion, and thereby gives the believer 
greater moral power over the hearts and 
consciences of sinners, when labouring for 
their conversion. It also increases his hap- 
piness, by securing more of the Divine pre- 
sence, greater strength to resist the wiles of 
the devil, a more complete victory over the 
world, and a brighter hope of future glory. 

The following texts, among others, show 



184 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

the importance of sanctification : " As obe- 
dient children, not fashioning yourselves 
according to the former lusts in your igno- 
rance ; but as He which hath called you is 
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver- 
sation ; because it is written, Be ye holy ; 
for I am holy." Again: "Giving all dili- 
gence, add to your faith, virtue, and to vir- 
tue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temper- 
ance, and to temperance, patience, and to 
patience, godliness, and to godliness, bro- 
therly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness, 
charity. For if these things be in you, and 
abound, they make you that ye shall neither 
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lack- 
eth these things, is blind, and cannot see 
afar off, and hath forgotten that he was 
purged from his old sins. Wherefore the 
rather, brethren, give diligence to make 
your calling and election sure; for if ye do 
these things, ye shall never fall ; for so an 
entrance shall be ministered unto you abun- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 185 

dantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

SANCTIFICATION IS THE SPECIAL WORK OF 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Henry James now inquired concerning 
the author of our sanctification ; to which 
Mr. James replied: Sanctification is the 
special work of the Holy Spirit, the third 
person in the adorable Trinity, though all 
the three persons are concerned in it. The 
choice of a people to be redeemed is ascribed 
to God the Father, and this choice included 
their sanctification. " According as he hath 
chosen us in him, before the foundation of 
the world, that we should be holy, and with- 
out blame before him in love." The work 
of redemption is ascribed to God the Son, 
and this includes not only his atoning sacri- 
fice, but his renewing and sanctifying grace. 
M Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctification, and re- 
demption." Again : " The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanses from all sin." But 

16* 



186 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

though all gracious influences flow to us 
from the love of God the Father, through 
the mediation of God the Son, our sanctifi- 
cation is the special work of God the Holy 
Ghost. "But ye are washed, but ye are 
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
God." " But we are bound to give thanks 
always to God for you, brethren beloved of 
the Lord, because God hath, from the begin- 
ning chosen you to salvation, through sanc- 
tification of the Spirit, and belief of the 
truth." Christ's atoning death and living 
intercession procured the mission and of- 
fice-work of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit 
renews and sanctifies the soul, by applying 
thereto the purchased redemption. In the 
words of one of our hymns : 

" The Holy Spirit must reveal 

The Saviour's work and worth : 
Then the hard heart begins to feel 
A new and heavenly birth." 

Again : 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 187 

u His Spirit purifies our frame, 
And seals our peace with God ; 
Jesus and his salvation came, 
By water and by blood." 

NO PEESON LESS THAN DIVINE IS ADEQUATE 
TO SUBDUE OUR SINS — EXPERIENCE OF 
STAUPITZ 

As has been already proved, the Holy 
Spirit is a Divine person. Hence to assert 
that the Holy Ghost applies the blood of 
Christ for our sanctification, is the same as 
affirming that our sanctification is of God. 
No influence short of Divine grace, is ade- 
quate to enable us to die unto sin and live 
unto righteousness. Staupitz, a cotempo- 
rary of Luther, remarked, concerning him- 
self, that before he came to understand the 
free and powerful grace of Christ, he re- 
solved and vowed a hundred times against 
a particular sin ; yet could never get power 
over it, nor his heart purified from it, till he 
came to see that he trusted too much to his 
own resolutions, and too little to Jesus Christ 
and the Holy Spirit ; but when his faith in 



188 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

a Divine Eedeemer and Sanctifier had en- 
gaged against his sin, he obtained the vic- 
tory. 

In my remarks on the work of the Holy 
Spirit in renewing the heart of the sinner, 
and in persuading and enabling him to ex- 
ercise faith in Christ, the doctrine of our 
dependence on God was fully discussed. 
The believer is as dependent on God for 
sanctification, as for regeneration ; though 
there is an important difference between the 
state of his heart, before and after he experi- 
enced the new birth. "The carnal mind is 
enmity against God." But when he has 
been born again, he is no longer opposed to 
God. He has become his friend. He loves 
his law, and his earnest desire is to become 
wholly conformed to his will. Yet alas! he 
finds "a law that when he would do good, 
evil is present with him;" "a law in his 
members warring against the law of his 
mind, and bringing him into captivity to 
the law of sin and death." "The flesh lust- 
eth against the spirit, and the spirit against 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 189 

the flesh, and these are contrary the one to 
the other, so that he cannot do the things 
that he would." Though, therefore, he de- 
sires deliverance — sighs for it — labours for it 
— struggles for it — he is like Melanchthon, 
who said that " old Adam was too strong 
for young Melanchthon." With a feeling 
of entire weakness, he, by faith, reaches forth 
and leans upon Divine strength. To apply 
the definition of faith already given : It is 
the same faith in kind, by which he first re- 
ceived Christ as his Eedeemer. The only 
difference is, that it is now exercised in con- 
tinued and repeated acts, and with reference 
to a want of his soul, not as deeply, yet as 
sincerely, felt at first as now. As I said, he 
then, as now, trusted in Christ for deliver- 
ance from sin, as well as for justification ; 
but until the work of sanctification is com- 
menced in his regeneration, he is less trou- 
bled about the power of sin over his heart, 
than he is afterwards. His greatest anxiety 
prior to this is to be delivered from con- 
demnation, but when his anxiety is relieved 



190 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

on this point, his mind is turned more to the 
other, and yet with as full a conviction as 
ever, nay, with an increasing conviction of 
the unfailing efficacy of Christ's blood to 
" cleanse from all sin," and the necessity of 
the Holy Spirit to " take of the things of 
Christ, and show them unto him," and also 
to assist him to exercise that faith by the 
continued acts of which his victory over sin 
is to be obtained. 

ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF DIVINE TRUTH ARE NOT 
SANCTIFYING. 

Mr. James now adverted to the sermon 
he had preached, on the sanctifying efficacy 
of divine truth, and observed to his son : I 
have postponed for some time the particular 
points with which this conversation began, 
viz : the means of sanctification, as adduced 
in my sermon this morning. I will now 
ask you some questions concerning that dis- 
course. Can you repeat, Henry, what I 
said concerning the tendency of divine truth 
to sanctify, as distinguished from error? 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 191 

Henry James replied : You said that er- 
roneous views of Scripture doctrine are not 
sanctifying in their tendency, but the reverse. 
You illustrated this by three examples. One 
was the doctrine of Christian perfection, a3 
held by some, who understand by it, not 
absolute freedom from all sin, but freedom 
from sin committed willingly. They thus 
confound perfect sanctification with regene- 
ration, and imagine that they possess the 
evidence of being sanctified, when this evi- 
dence proves only that they have been born 
again. The avoiding of wilful sin is essen- 
tial to the existence of saving grace, in the 
heart. The evil tendency of this error is, 
that the persons holding it, believe them- 
selves to be sanctified when they are not, 
and hence are apt to neglect the means of 
further growth in grace. In some instances 
they omit in their prayers, the petition left 
by our Lord, for his disciples to repeat till 
the end of time : " Forgive us our debts as 
we forgive our debtors." 

The second example was the doctrine of 



192 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN*. 

repentance, which, if rightly understood, is 
an important means of sanctification ; but 
when perverted, as is done by the Papists, 
produces no such effect. You described 
evangelical repentance in the words of the 
Catechism: "Kepentance unto life is a sav- 
ing grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true 
sense of his sin, and apprehension of the 
mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and 
hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, 
with full purpose of, and endeavour after, 
new obedience." These particulars, you said, 
are scriptural elements of sanctification, and 
if they are practised daily, the work of sanc- 
tification will make constant progress. To 
prove this, you quoted the words of Paul : 
''Behold this self same thing that ye sor- 
rowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it 
wrought in you, yea, what clearing of 
yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what 
fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what 
zeal, yea, what revenge." 

With regard to the Papists, you remarked 
that the New Testament word, repent, they 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 193 

translate by the words, " Do penance; in ex- 
plaining which they include contrition of 
heart, and yet they make so much more 
prominent, certain outward acts of self-mor- 
tification, which they call attrition, that 
they mislead their people and satisfy them 
with superstitious forms and observances, 
to the neglect of inward penitence for sin. 

The third example you adduced, was 
that of the antinomians, who, though pro- 
fessing to hold the doctrines of grace, enter- 
tain distorted views of those doctrines. Be- 
cause by an act of God's free grace, called 
adoption, believing sinners "are received 
into the number, and have a right to all the 
privileges of the sons of God," they erro- 
neously infer that Christ, who came " to 
redeem them that were under the law, that 
they might receive the adoption of sons," 
absolved believers, not only from the ob- 
servance of the ceremonial, but also of the 
moral law. They accordingly deny (as their 
name imports) that the law of God is a rule 
of life to Christians, who they allege are 

17 



194 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

free from its practical requirements as well 
as from its curse. Some of them carry these 
views so far as to say that what is sinful in 
other men, is not sinful in Christians, who, 
they affirm, (not being under law, but under 
grace,) are not bound by the ordinary legal 
requirements which govern unconverted 
men. Such views of Divine grace, you said, 
are the opposite of sanctifying. They are 
pernicious and abominable. You then quoted 
our Confession of Faith, as follows : " The 
moral law doth for ever bind all, as well 
justified persons, as others, to obedience 
thereof, and that not only in regard of the 
matter contained in it, but also in respect 
of the authority of God the Creator who 
gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel 
any way dissolve, but much strengthen this 
obligation. Also the words of Paul : " Shall 
we continue in sin that grace may abound ? 
God forbid : how shall we that are dead to 
sin live any longer therein ?" 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 195 

PERNICIOUS TENDENCY OF ANTINOMIANISM 
ILLUSTRATED — ANECDOTE OF ROWLAND 
HILL. 

Mr. James commended Henry for the ac- 
curacy of this statement, and said: These 
errors are all pernicious ; but the worst of 
the three is antinomianism, which ; under 
the guise of magnifying divine grace, tends 
to immorality and dishonesty. An antino- 
mian hearer of the eccentric Eowland Hill, 
called at his mansion, to bring him to an 
account for what he regarded as a legal gos- 
pel. 

11 Do you, sir," asked Eowland, " hold the 
ten commandments to be a rule of life to 
Christians?" " Certainly not," replied the 
visitor. _ 

Mr. Hill rang the bell, and, on the servant 
making his appearance, he said to him, 
"John, show that man the door, and keep 
your eye on him until he is beyond the 
reach of every article of wearing apparel, or 
other property in the hall," 



196 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 



MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION. 

What did I say, continued Mr. James, 
concerning the scriptural means of sancti- 
cation ? 

You said, father, that the chief means 
of sanctification, supposing always the 
existence of genuine faith in Christ, are 
reading the Holy Scriptures ; devout medi- 
tation and prayer ; constant watchful- 
ness against sin and temptation ; occa- 
sional fasting ; a faithful attendance upon 
the ordinances of God's house, and the 
practical cultivation of our benevolent affec- 
tions. On the last you remarked that a sel- 
fish spirit is incompatible with high attain- 
ments in holiness, that " covetousness is 
idolatry," and its opposite, benevolence, as- 
similates us to God, according to that Scrip- 
ture, " God is love, and he that dwelleth in 
love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." 
Hence pious giving, and other benevolent 
acts, if piously performed, are scriptural 
means of growth in grace. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 197 

And what did I remark about the sanc- 
tifying tendency of Divine Providence? 

You said, father, that afflictive provi- 
dences are a discipline of love to God's 
people, designed and adapted to purify 
their souls from sin ; that they are means 
of sanctification employed by our hea- 
venly Father, rather than by us ; that we 
are not required to afflict ourselves by vol- 
untary pains ; but that we ought, neverthe- 
less, to employ them when sent, as means 
of sanctification, by exercising a pious re- 
signation to God's will, and also, by our 
being influenced thereby to a more diligent 
use of the other means of sanctification be- 
fore enumerated. 

What text did I quote, Henry, to show 
the sanctifying tendency of affliction ? 

You quoted, father, a passage in the 

Hebrews, which I marked at the time. 

Turning to the 12th Chapter of Hebrews, 

Henry read as follows: " We have had fathers 

of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave 

them reverence: shall we not much rather 
17* 



198 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and 
live? For they verily, for a few days, chastened 
us after their own pleasure; but he for our pro- 
fit that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

THE SANCTIFYING TENDENCY OF AFFLICTION 
ILLUSTRATED. 

And here, father, continued Henry, you 
gave an illustration which I shall never for- 
get. The substance of it was as follows : 
Several pious persons were conversing about 
the meaning of a passage in Malachi: "He 
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver : 
and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and 
purge them as gold and silver." One of them 
said, Let us go into a refinery, ( there was 
one near by,) and see how the precious 
metals are refined. They entered and found 
the refiner in a sitting posture, close by the 
furnace, steadily watching the process. He 
was asked, Why do you sit? In order, said 
he, to enable me to observe more accurately 
the progress of the work, to prevent the 
metal from burning up, by securing a proper 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 199 

regulation of the heat, and to notice when 
the work is finished. How do you know, 
asked one of them, when the work is fin- 
ished ? He replied, When I can see my face 
in it. The party retired fully satisfied with 
the explanation. You remarked, God has 
chosen his people in the furnace of affliction. 
But he afflicts them in mercy, and with a 
view to their sanctification, in order to make 
them partakers of his holiness. When they 
perfectly reflect his image, their sanctifica- 
tion is complete. 

SANCTIFYING TENDENCY OF THE DOCTRINES 
OF GRACE. 

You may now state, said Mr. James, the 
several reasons which I gave, why the doc- 
trines of grace have a sanctifying tendency. 
You have given so good an account of the 
other parts of my sermon, I think you have 
certainly treasured up these. 

Yes, father, I was so much interested in 
those reasons, that I wrote them down as 
soon as I returned from church. Shall I 



200 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

read them ? Being permitted to do so, 
Henry read as follows : 

1. The doctrines of grace are sanctifying, 
because they exalt God. Whatever pro- 
duces exalted and adoring views of Jeho- 
vah, the great and holy God, has a tendency 
to subdue the power of sin in the heart. 

2. The doctrines of grace are sanctifying, 
because they give us correct views of our- 
selves as fallen and ruined sinners. These 
views are adapted to produce humiliation 
and self-abasement, penitintial sorrow and 
contrition of heart, and hence they are fa- 
vourable to our sanctification. 

3. The doctrines of grace are sanctifying, 
because they honour Christ as the Saviour of 
sinners. They honour his person by ascrib- 
ing to him true and proper Divinity; they 
honour the several offices which he sustained 
as our Eedeemer ; and they give him all 
the glory of our salvation, and make us debt- 
ors to his free grace. A proper considera- 
tion of these truths forms a powerful motive 
for us to live to his glory, and to endeavour 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 201 

to be like him. His very name, Jesus, signi- 
fies that he would save his people from their 
sins, and hence it becomes a constant incen- 
tive to his disciples to pray and labour to 
be more and more holy. 

4. The doctrines of grace are sanctifying, 
because they honour the work of the Holy 
Spirit, who is officially designated by the 
Father and Son, as the Sanctifier of believers. 
Eegeneration and sanctification are his spe- 
cial work, and they are expressly connected 
in Scripture, with the plan of salvation by 
grace. " But after that the kindness and 
love of God our Saviour toward man ap- 
peared, not by works of righteousness which 
we have done, but according to his mercy 
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, 
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 

MR. JAMES EXHORTS HENRY TO A DILIGENT 
USE OF THE MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION — 
LUTHER, M'CHEYNE, MRS. HAWKES. 

When Henry James had finished reading 
these several reasons, Mr. James remarked: 



202 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

The sanctifying tendency of the doctrines of 
grace is a valid proof of their being scrip- 
tural and important. Adhere to these doc- 
trines, and let them exert their legitimate 
influence on your heart and life. Make it 
your great purpose, from day to day, to be- 
come more and more holy. Though perfect 
sanctification is not to be expected on earth, 
we may approximate to this state ; and hence 
your constant aim should be, " to die more 
and more unto sin, and live unto righteous- 
ness." To this end use diligently the means 
of sanctification. 

Live near to God by prayer. You need 
not expect to be very holy, unless you often 
approach the throne of grace, where all holy 
influences are to be sought. A German pas- 
tor in 1530, speaking of Luther, said : " No 
day passes in which he does not devote at 
least three hours to prayer and meditation. 
I once succeeded in hearing him pray. — 
What energy, what faith in his words ! He 
prays earnestly as a man communing with 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 203 

God ; and with such trust and faith as a man 
conversing with his father." 

With earnest and habitual prayer, con- 
nect devout meditation. Meditate especially 
on your sins, and how you can most effec- 
tually obtain the victory over them. " I 
ought," says the pious and devoted Mc- 
Cheyne, "to look at my sins in the light of 
the holy law — in the light of God's coun- 
tenance — in the light of the cross — in 
the light of the judgment-seat — in the 
light of hell — in the light of eternity." In 
this short and pithy quotation, you have ma- 
terials for the widest range of thought, and 
containing the most powerful incentives to 
avoid sin and lead a holy life. 

Be watchful also as well as prayerful. Guard 
against temptations to sin. Be diligent in 
business. Be careful to maintain good works. 
Be meek and forgiving. Be kind and be- 
nevolent. Be condescending and humble. 
In short, endeavour to walk in the Spirit, 
and look to Jesus as the model for your 
daily conduct. And in all these particulars, 



204 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

forget not your dependence on Christ to 
strengthen you in discharging your seve- 
ral duties. A lively and vigorous faith in 
him is essential to your success in the work 
of sanctification. Mrs. Hawkes, a pious 
English lady, wrote to a friend thus : " You 
want to know how I have been conquering 
self. Alas ! I have been only fighting against 
self, but I am still very far from being a 
conqueror; and I am thankful to say, as you 
do, Jesus shows me my strength is in him, and 
my desire is to be as a little child. When I 
want to act, I go to him for wisdom and 
strength. If I feel anger, I run to him and 
show it to him. When I feel pride rising 
upon any occasion, I go to him and confess 
it. To him I take every sin as it arises, 
every want, every desponding thought. To 
him I go for every good thought, every 
good desire, every good word and work, 
crying — Lord, help me in this — Lord, help 
me in the other. It is thy grace alone can 
produce anything good in me. What else 
is meant by Christ's living in me, and I in 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 205 

him ? It is by this simple faith that we 
must bring forth good fruits, and to obtain 
it, we must plead the promises. How are 
we to be transformed in the spirit of our 
minds, and to be changed into his image, 
from glory to glory ? Not by looking 
within, but by looking to Jesus." 

Henry James remained silent, being too 
solemnly impressed to ask any further ques- 
tions. The family was called together, and 
Mr. James, before engaging in prayer, read 
the following hymn, in the singing of which 
they all cordially united. 

" Oh for a heart to praise my God, 
A heart from sin set free ; 
A heart that always feels thy blood, 
So freely shed for me : 

A heart resigned, submissive, meek, 

My great Redeemer's throne, 
Where only Christ is beard to speak ; 
• Where Jesus reigns alone : 

A heart in every thought renewed, 

And full of love divine, 

Holy, and right, and pure, and good, 

A copy, Lord, of thine." 
18 



CONVERSATION VI. 

GOOD WORKS. 

From this time onward, Henry James ap- 
peared to obtain clearer views of divine 
truth, particularly of the nature and evidences 
of regeneration, and his deportment was in- 
dicative of a radical change of heart. He 
was a diligent reader of the Bible, a regular 
and devout attendant on social and public 
worship, conscientious in avoiding all known 
si n, and faithful and active in his endeavours to 
do good. After the lapse of several Sabbaths, 
(Mr. James's official engagements having 
interrupted their conversations,) Henry said 
to his father : Since our last conversation, I 
have thought much on the question, What 
place do good works occupy in the gospel 
plan of salvation ? 

Mr. James replied : This question is one 
(206) 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 207 

of much importance. If you intend, by the 
inquiry, What is the relation of good works 
to our justification before God ? my answer 
is, that works are wholly excluded. They 
possess no merit to recommend us to God's 
favour. This has been noticed already in 
our conversation on Justification. We are 
justified by faith alone, and not by the deeds 
of the law. "Not of works, lest any man 
should boast." But if you mean to inquire, 
What is the relation of good works to justi- 
fying faith? I answer, that they proceed 
from it. Faith is the tree, and good works 
the fruit. Faith is the divinely communi- 
cated principle, or the source or fountain of 
spiritual life, and good works are the out- 
ward manifestations of that life in our reli- 
gious and moral, our personal and social 
duties. Paul's language is, " We are his 
[that is, God's] workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
hath before ordained that we should walk 
in them." These words immediately follow 
those just quoted, " Not of works, lest any 



208 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN, 

man should boast." The whole passage, 
taken in connection, shows that our accept- 
ance with God as sinners, is by grace alone 
through faith, without regard to our works ; 
that God brings us into a state of acceptance 
with him, by creating us anew in Christ 
Jesus ; and that this new creation results in 
good works, as a cause does in its effect 
This connection has been ordained and es- 
tablished by God as a fixed and uniform 
law in his kingdom of grace. 

11 Faith must obey her Father's will, 
As well as trust his grace ; 
A pardoning God is jealous still 
For his own holiness.' ' 

Henry James inquired, Cannot good works 
be performed by unregenerate men ? 

Yes, said Mr. James, they can be performed, 
as to their external acts ; but not from a 
pious, evangelical spirit. Good works there- 
fore, when considered as evidences of faith, 
include both the outward acts, and the in- 
ward feelings, motives, and principles of ac* 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 209 

tion. Grace implanted in the heart pos- 
sesses a spiritual vitality, which may be 
called the life of God in the soul ; the out- 
ward development of which is practical 
piety. The good works of unregenerate men 
lack this inward vital principle, and hence 
they are regarded by God very differently 
from the good works of true believers. 

THE DIFFERENCE IN GOOD WORKS ILLUS- 
TRATED — JEHU AND JOSIAH. 

This difference may be illustrated, said 
Mr. James, by two cases recorded in Scrip- 
ture, viz: Jehu and Josiah. The most pro- 
minent public acts which distinguished their 
reigns, were similar to each other, viz : the 
destruction of idols. These acts were good 
and important, and when considered as pub- 
lic acts, and performed in the discharge of 
their official duty, they were alike approved 
by God. The Lord said to Jehu : " Because 
thou hast done well in executing that which 
is right in mine heart, thy children of the 

fourth generation shall sit on the throne of 

18 * 



210 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Israel." In like manner God expressed his 
approbation of Josiah, by promising to bring 
him to his grave in peace, and that he should 
not himself see the judgments which would 
come on the land, for the wickedness of his 
predecessor Manasseh. But Jehovah re- 
garded those two men, individually, in a very 
different manner. Jehu was actuated by a 
proud, self-complacent, and vain-glorious 
spirit. To Jonadab, he said boastingly, 
" Come with me, and see my zeal for the 
Lord." Josiah was influenced by pure, 
pious, and holy motives. His heart was 
" tender," and he " humbled himself before 
the Lord." It is recorded of Jehu, that he 
" took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord 
God of Israel, with all his heart." Of Josiah 
it is said, that " he turned to the Lord with 
all his heart, and with all his soul, and with 
all his might." Hence though God approved 
of the acts of Jehu, when officiating as a 
public servant, in the destruction of idol- 
tary, and rewarded him with temporal 
good ; yet he was displeased with his per- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 211 

sonal character, and he excluded him, at last, 
from his heavenly presence. Josiah, on the 
contrary, was Jehovah's friend; and was re- 
ceived, after death, into eternal joy. 

THE APOSTLE JAMES'S DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFI- 
CATION BY WORKS EXPLAINED. 

If, said Henry, our good works have no 
part in our justification before God, what 
does the apostle James mean, by saying that 
a man is justified by works, and not by 
faith only ? 

Mr. James replied : The apostle James 
is describing the nature and evidences of 
evangelical faith. He teaches that it is not 
a dead, but a living faith ; not a dormant, 
inactive principle, but one which produces 
good works; that "as the body without 
the spirit is dead, so faith without works 
is dead also." This circumstance must be 
taken into account, in ascertaining the sense 
in which he uses the term justify. The 
meritorious ground of our justification is 
Christ's righteousness; the instrument is 



212 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

faith ; and faith, in order to be justifying, must 
be accompanied by good works, in which 
sense we are justified by works; that is, our 
works prove that our faith is genuine, and 
that our justification has a true, evangelical 
foundation, viz : the righteousness of Christ. 
His righteousness imputed is always con- 
nected with a righteousness implanted, and 
righteousness implanted produces good 
works, as its corresponding external fruit. 

JAMES AND PAUL COMPAKED. 

Henry remarked: I have heard it ob- 
jected that James and Paul do not agree on 
this subject. Is this so, father ? 

Mr. James answered : These two apostles 
are in perfect harmony with each other. 
The explanation just given of James's lan- 
guage, shows that there is no real discrep- 
ancy between him and Paul. If James had 
been writing to a people of the same legal 
spirit with those addressed by Paul, he 
would have doubtless insisted as much on 
faith as Paul did ; and, on the other hand, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 213 

if Paul had been addressing antinomian pro- 
fessors of religion, like those to whom the 
epistle of James was directed, he would have 
written substantially what James did, con- 
cerning the importance of works. Do not 
misunderstand me. Neither of these apos- 
tles taught one doctrine to one class of peo- 
ple, and a different doctrine to another class. 
I once heard a minister say, speaking of 
himself, "My preaching is sometimes Cal- 
vinistic, and sometimes Arminian." Not so 
with Paul and James. Both of them, I 
maintain, uniformly inculcated what we now 
call the Calvin istic faith ; but sometimes one 
aspect was made especially prominent, and 
sometimes another aspect, according to cir- 
cumstances. But both aspects had a good 
practical tendency. Paul's justification by 
faith, and James's justification by works, con- 
curred in teaching, with equal clearness, the 
necessity of a moral, upright, and holy life. 

Mr. James further remarked : Justifica- 
tion by works in the sense of the apostle 
James, as compared with justification by 



214 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

faith, insisted upon by the apostle Paul, 
may be illustrated by a vine, the branches 
of which are full of delicious grapes. Be- 
lievers, represented by the branches, are 
united by faith to Christ the true vine; and 
good works, represented by the grapes, 
prove that the branches (believers) are con- 
nected with the vine, not in appearance 
only, that is, not merely by a visible pro- 
fession of faith, but by an internal, vital 
union; and it is from this union by a living 
faith, that they receive strength to lead lives 
of practical godliness. Thus the works of 
James and the faith of Paul, are only differ- 
ent parts of the Bible-description of the 
character of evangelical believers, and of 
their justification through the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

Mr. James then handed Henry a Bible, 
saying : Turn to the 15th chapter of John, 
and you will see (ver. 1 — 8.) a beautiful illustra- 
tion given by our Lord, of the union of be- 
lievers with him, the true Vine, and of their 
fruitfulness in good works, which proceeds 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 215 

from this union. Henry took the Bible, 
and read as follows : " I am the true vine, 
and my Father is the husbandman. Every 
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh 
away : and every branch that beareth fruit, 
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more 
fruit. Now ye are clean through the word 
which I have spoken unto you. Abide in 
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot 
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the 
vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in 
me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. 
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without 
me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not 
in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is 
withered, and men gather them, and cast 
them into the fire, and they are burned. If 
ye abide in me, and my word abide in you, 
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be 
done unto you. Herein is my Father glori- 
fied, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be 
my disciples." 

These precious words of Christ, said Mr. 



216 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

James, contain several important particulars 
concerning our union with him, viz: its 
vital character, its productiveness, our de- 
pendence on him for its perpetuity, &c. But 
at present, I wish to direct your special at- 
tention to one only, viz : that saving faith 
produces good works. This is distinctly 
asserted by our Lord in these words, and 
hence the inference is conclusive, that the 
apostle Paul, when he affirmed that works 
have no part in our justification, must have 
alluded to the works of the law, or to works 
performed with a legal spirit; as though 
fallen sinners could be saved by the old broken 
covenant of works. He did not mean that 
works of love and obedience are unnecessary, 
as the fruit of faith in Christ. Good works 
of this kind will always characterize a godly 
man. As Dr. Watts happily expresses it : 

" Green as the leaf, and ever fair 
Shall his profession shine ; 
While fruits of holiness appear 
Like clusters on the vine." 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 217 

HOW GOOD WORKS MUST BE PERFORMED. 

Henry James now asked, How must good 
works be performed, in order to render them 
acceptable to God ? 

Mr. James replied, This question has been 
partly answered already, in what I have 
said about the fruitfulness of faith, in pro- 
ducing good works ; and also in my remarks 
concerning Josiah, who engaged in the good 
work of reformation among his subjects, 
from conscientious and pious motives. I 
will now add that, in connection with " faith 
and a good conscience," good works must 
be characterized by love; love to God, and 
love for his commandments; a filial love, 
which makes our obedience willing and 
cheerful, a source of satisfaction and de- 
light. Says David, " I will delight myself 
in thy commandments, which I have loved." 
And John declares, " This is the love of God, 
that we keep his commandments, and his 
commandments are not grievous." Good 

works must also be performed with true, 
19 



218 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

christian zeal] by which I mean that holy 
fervour which is kindled at the cross of 
Christ, " who," as Paul says, " gave himself 
for us, that he might redeem us from all in- 
iquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works." Here, to be 
zealous of good works, is given as one char- 
acteristic of the Lord's redeemed. Yet it is 
not every kind of zeal that is acceptable to 
God. Our zeal must not be a blind, bigoted, 
censorious, persecuting zeal ; but an enlight- 
ened, humble, benevolent, Christ-like zeal ; 
a zeal in short, which is moulded and tem- 
pered by its union with all those preceding 
characteristics of good works which I have 
named. 

ANSWERS BY SABBATH SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

I have read an anecdote, continued Mr. 
James, which gives a pleasing illustration of 
the manner in which good works ought to 
be performed. It was furnished by the chil- 
dren of a Sabbath-school. The superinten- 
dent was interrogating the scholars concern- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 219 

ing that petition in the Lord's prayer, " Thy 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven." — 
Said he to them, " You have told me, my 
dear children, what is to be done — the will 
of God ; where it is to be done — on earth ; 
and how it is to be done — as it is done in 
heaven. Now I wish you to tell me, how 
the angels and happy spirits in heaven, do 
the will of God." The first child replied, 
w They do it immediately :" the second, " They 
do it diligently:" the third, "They do it 
always :" the fourth, " They do it with all 
their hearts :" the fifth, " They do it all toge- 
ther." Here a pause ensued, and no other 
children appeared to have a further answer; 
but at length a little girl arose and said, "They 
do it without asking any questions." 

WHAT DUTIES GOOD WORKS INCLUDE. 

Henry James inquired, whether good 
works included all the duties which devolve 
on us in our relations both to God and man. 

Father. Yes, my son ; yet they relate 
more especially to the duties which we owe 



220 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

to each other ; and even here, they are often 
applied, in a particular manner, to those du- 
ties which call into exercise our benevolent 
feelings. In this sense must be understood 
the Apostolic injunction, " To do good, and 
to communicate forget not ; for with such sa- 
crifices God is well pleased." But all moral 
duties are included under the head of good 
works. Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount 
is replete with practical precepts, which, if 
classified, would come under this denomina- 
tion. Christ teaches us also in that dis- 
course, not only what good works are, but 
in what spirit they must be performed. In 
like manner Paul was inspired to write 
He that giveth, let him do it with simplici- 
ty : he that ruleth, with diligence ; he that 
showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love 
be without dissimulation. Abhor that which 
is evil ; cleave to that which is good. Be 
kindly affectioned one to another, with 
brotherly love; in honour preferring one 
another; not slothful in business; fervent 
in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 221 

in hope ; patient in tribulation ; continuing 
instant in prayer; distributing to the ne- 
cessity of saints ; given to hospitality." 

BENEFICENCE IS PARTICULARLY INCULCATED. 

I have often noticed, father, said Henry 
James, that the duty of beneficence is more 
frequently inculcated in the holy Scriptures, 
than almost any other. Can you assign a 
reason for this ? 

Father. One reason may be that selfish- 
ness is a common infirmity of our fallen na- 
ture ; and hence the duty of beneficence 
would be apt to be neglected, if it were not 
frequently enjoined in the word of God. 
Another reason may be found in the fact, 
that a disposition to do good, assimilates us 
to the Divine character. " Be ye therefore 
merciful, even as your Father in heaven is 
merciful." " God is love ; and he that loveth, 
dwelleth in God, and God in him." And 
further, the duty of beneficence, if faithfully 
practised, is closely connected with our useful- 
ness in the world. By diligent and persever- 

19* 



222 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ing efforts in well doing, whether by our per- 
sonal labours for the salvation of souls, or 
by contributing liberally of our substance to 
sustain those who are thus engaged, we be- 
come the honoured instruments of turning 
many to righteousness, and of promoting 
thereby God's declarative glory. 

Henry. Please, father, explain the scrip- 
ture rule for regulating our religious chari- 
ties. 

Father. The proportion required under 
the Old Testament dispensation, was one 
tenth of all their increase. The rule laid 
down in the New Testament is, that we must 
give according as God has prospered us; 
which without specifying the exact propor- 
tion, preserves the spirit of the Old Testament 
requirement. By saying that we must lay by 
us in store every week, that God loves the 
cheerful giver, &c, the apostle teaches that 
our benevolent feelings must be kept in con- 
stant exercise, that well doing must become 
a part of our piety, as much as our religious 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 223 

devotions, and be characterized by unremit- 
ting diligence and zeal. 

RULES FOR GIVING ILLUSTRATED. 

Henry James now said, With your per- 
mission, father, I will read a little story on 
this subject, which I have cut from a news- 
paper, and which has pleased me very 
much, and I desire to hear your opinion 
about it. The story being read, Mr. James 
remarked : This is a forcible illustration of 
the whole subject of Christian beneficence, 
as far as it relates to the giving of our sub- 
stance for charitable purposes. 

The story is as follows: At a missionary 
meeting among pious negroes in the West In- 
dies, the following resolutions were adopted : 

1. We will all give something. 

2. We will each give according to our 
ability. 

3. We will give willingly. 

At the close of the meeting, a leading 
negro took his seat at the table, with a pen 
and ink, to take down what each might con- 



224 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

tribute. Many advanced to the table and 
handed in their contributions, some more, 
and some less. Among the contributors 
was an old negro, who was very rich, almost 
as rich as all the rest united. He threw 
down a small silver coin. # 

" Take dat back again," said the chairman 
of the meeting. u Dat may be 'cordin' to de 
fust resolution, but not 'cordin' to de 
second." 

The rich old man took up the money, and 
hobbled back to his seat much enraged. 
One after another came forward, and all 
giving more than himself, he was ashamed, 
and again threw a piece of money on the 
table, saying, "Dar — take dat!" 

It was a valuable piece of gold; but it 
was given in so ill-tempered a manner, that 
the chairman answered : 

"No sir, dat won't do! Dat may be 
'cordin' to de fust and second resolutions, 
but not 'cordin' to de third." 

He was obliged to take it up again. Still 
angry with himself, he sat a long time, until 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 225 

nearly all were gone, and then advancing to 
the table, with a smile on his countenance, 
he laid down a large sum of money. 

"Dar, now, berry well," said the presiding 
negro, "dat will do ; dat am 'cordin' to ALL 
de resolutions." 

CONNECTION BETWEEN GOOD WORKS AND 
THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE. 

Henry James expressed himself as being 
much instructed by this conversation, but 
added, I desire, father, to obtain more light 
on one point, viz : What connection is 
there between good works and the doc- 
trines of grace? Does a belief in these 
doctrines produce good works ? 

Mr. James replied : The doctrines of grace 
have undoubtedly a practical tendency, by 
furnishing motives to sinners to seek the 
Lord, and to believers to lead a holy life. 
The apostle Paul understood this subject, 
and he was also divinely inspired. God's 
working in us to will and to do of his good 
pleasure is adduced by him as a motive to 



226 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

encourage and prompt us to the discharge 
of practical duty. His words are, "Work 
out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling ; for it is God which worketh in you 
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
In this direction, Paul designs to inculcate, 
first, a diligent use of the means of grace, 
and secondly, a faithful performance of those 
good works which characterize true, evan- 
gelical obedience. And the great motive 
adduced is the good pleasure of God, in 
working into the heart his grace, the fruit- 
of which he thus enjoins upon us to work 
out. 

With regard to your question, whether a 
belief in the doctrines of grace actually be- 
comes operative, in inclining the heart to obe- 
dience, and producing what the Bible de- 
nominates good works, this depends upon 
the sense which is attached to belief. A 
mere speculative belief in the doctrines of 
grace is not sufficient for this purpose. 
There must be a belief of the heart, an ex- 
perimental knowledge and conviction of 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 227 

their truth and excellence, through the 
illumination of the Holy Spirit. These 
doctrines, when thus believed, are the most 
powerful supporters of spiritual life, and the 
most effective incentives to religious duty. 
" With the heart man believeth unto right- 
eousness ;" that is, to an interest in Christ's 
righteousness, imputed for our justification, 
and to the production of a righteous life ; 
consisting of uprightness, and practical well 
doing. Grace in the heart is like a foun- 
tain, and good works like the streams which 
flow from it. As a good fountain always 
produces pure and limpid streams, so Divine 
grace in the soul produces a holy life. Ac- 
cordingly the apostle James inquires, "Doth 
a fountain send forth at the same place sweet 
water and bitter ? Can a fig tree, my bre- 
thren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? 
So can no fountain both yield salt water 
and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued 
with knowledge among you ? Let him shew 
out of a good conversation his works with 
meekness of wisdom." 



228 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

THE APOSTLE PAUL WAS DISTINGUISHED FOR 
GOOD WORKS. 

Mr. James further remarked, that the 
power of the doctrines of grace to produce 
good works, was remarkably illustrated in 
the life of the Apostle Paul. " By the grace 
of God," says he, " I am what I am: and his 
grace which was bestowed upon me was not 
in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly 
than they all : yet not I, but the grace of 
God which was with me." In this passage 
Paul asserts first, that he was a debtor to 
God's grace for the great change which he 
had experienced; and secondly, that this 
grace in its primary bestowment, and its 
continued operation, had produced those 
abundant labours which characterized his 
ministry. No one acquainted with his writ- 
ings can doubt that he was a firm believer 
in the doctrines of grace ; and it is a fair in- 
ference from the above statement, that he re- 
garded his religious life as having received 
its type and character from the effect of those 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 229 

truths, rendered vital and saving by the Holy 
Spirit. You know the result. His faith was 
heroic, his zeal most fervent ; his love for 
souls unquenchable; and his labours constant 
and self-denying. Henry take the Bible and 
read Paul's own narrative of what he did and 
suffered. Henry read as follows : " In labours 
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in 
prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the 
Jews five times received I forty stripes save 
one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once 
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a 
night and a day I have been in the deep ; in 
journeyings often, in perils of waters, in 
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own 
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in 
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, 
in perils in the sea, in perils among false 
brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in 
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fast- 
ings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those 
things that are without, that which cometh 
upon me daily, the care of all the churches." 

When Henry had finished reading the 
20 



230 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

above passage, Mr. James remarked, You per- 
ceive that Paul was not a drone. Though 
he was so earnest in repudiating works, when 
discoursing on the subject of gospel justifi- 
cation ; yet his faith wrought in him effec- 
tually for the production of those graces and 
duties, which rendered him eminently prac- 
tical and laborious. And he tells us, that 
he was not only willing to perform those 
labours, and endure those sufferings, for the 
purpose of advancing Christ's kingdom ; but 
that he " counted not even his life dear unto 
him, that he might finish his course with 
joy, and the ministry which he had received of 
the Lord, to testify the gospel of the grace 
of God." The secret of his ardent zeal, his 
holy heroism, and his abundant labours, is 
also virtually explained by himself, in words 
equivalent to saying, that they were owing 
to the vital and energetic influence of Di- 
vine grace. "Whether we be beside our- 
selves," says he, " it is to God : or whether we 
be sober, it is for your cause. For the love 
of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 231 

judge that if one died for all, then were all 
dead ; and that he died for all, that they 
which live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him which died for 
them and rose again." 

If Paul had been influenced by ambitious 
motives, or even by motives of philanthropy, 
proceeding only from his own natural feel- 
ings, without relying on Divine grace, he 
would have utterly failed in accomplishing 
his great mission. But trusting in God, and 
not in his own strength, he was enabled to 
run with patience the race set before him ; 
as we may now do if we are actuated by the 
same gracious principles. 

a From thee, the overflowing spring, 
Our souls shall drink a fresh supply, 
While such as trust their native strength, 
Shall melt away, and droop and die. 

Swift as the eagle cuts the air, 
We'll mount aloft to thine abode : 

On wings of love our souls shall fly, 
Nor tire amidst the heavenly road." 



232 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

JOHN HOWARD, THE PHILANTHROPIST. 

Mr. James further remarked, I will give 
another illustration from uninspired biogra- 
phy, showing the efficacious influence of an 
experimental belief in the doctrines of grace, 
to produce good works. The name of John 
Howard, the philanthropist, is familiar to 
thousands. He was so distinguished for his 
benevolent and self-denying labours, in ame- 
liorating the condition of suffering and de- 
graded humanity, that previous to his death, 
one of his friends in England, without his 
knowledge, proposed to erect a public monu- 
ment, as a token of the high estimate in 
which he was held for his philanthropic ser- 
vices. A subscription was commenced for 
this purpose. But when he heard of the 
movement he positively declined the honour. 

It would protract this conversation to an 
undue length, to give an account of his la- 
bours in detail. "After inspecting the re- 
ceptacles of crime, of poverty, and of misery, 
throughout Great Britain and Ireland, he 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 233 

left his native country to visit the wretched 
abodes of those who were in want, and 
bound in fetters of iron, in other parts of 
the world. He travelled three times through 
France, four through Germany, five through 
Holland, twice through Italy, once through 
Spain and Portugal, and also through Den- 
mark, Sweden, Russia, and part of Turkey. 
These excursions occupied (with some short 
intervals of rest at home) the period of 
twelve years. He gave up his own comfort 
that he might bestow it upon others. He 
was often immured in prison, that others 
might be set at liberty. He exposed him- 
self to danger, that he might free others 
from it. He visited the gloomy cell, that he 
might inspire a ray of hope and joy in the 
breasts of the wretched. Yea, he not only 
lived, but died in the noble cause of benevo- 
lence; for in visiting a young lady, who lay 
dangerously ill of an epidemic fever, in 
order to administer relief, he caught the dis- 
temper, and fell a victim to his humanity, 
January 20th, 1790." 

20 • 



234: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

Henry James now said : This, father, is 
an extraordinary narrative. I have formerly 
read some of these facts concerning Howard, 
and I have admired him as a philanthropist ; 
but was he a pious man, and a Calvinist ? 

Mr. James replied: I have taken the 
above summary of Howard's labours, from 
an excellent volume now before me, written 
by Mr. Peter Bayne, of Scotland, and I have 
marked several passages, which show his 
religious sentiments. If you will read these 
passages, Henry, you will not fail, I think, 
to be satisfied, both as to his piety and his 
firm belief in the doctrines of grace. Henry 
took the volume and read as follows: "In 
early years his nature was stilled, hallowed, 
and strengthened by religious principle. As 
he advanced in years, the great truths of 
Calvinism, or rather that one great truth of 
Calvinism, The Lord reigneth— the Lord, just, 
sovereign, incomprehensible, in whose pre- 
sence no finite being can speak — formed a 
basis, as it were, of adamant, for his whole 
character." 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 235 

Mr. James then remarked: Calvinism 
was not with Howard a mere theory. It was 
deeply seated in his heart. His whole soul 
was imbued with its humbling and vivify- 
ing, its elevating and comforting influence. 
This will appear by an extract from his 
diary, which you may next read. Henry 
read the following: 

11 Hague, Sunday evening, \ 
February 11," [1770.] J 

" I would record the goodness of God, to 
the unworthiest of his creatures : for some 
days past, a habitual serious frame, relenting 
for my sin and folly, applying to the blood 
of Jesus Christ, solemnly surrendering my- 
self and babe to him, begging the conduct 
of his Holy Spirit ; I hope, a more tender 
conscience," evinced, " by a greater fear of 
offending God, a temper more abstracted 
from this world, more resigned to death or 
life, thirsting for union and communion 
with God, as my Lord and my God. Oh ! 
the wonders of redeeming love ! Some hope" 



236 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

that " even I ! through redeeming mercy, in 
the perfect righteousness, the full atoning 
sacrifice, shall, ere long, be made the monu- 
ment of the rich, free grace and mercy of 
God, through the divine Eedeemer. Oh, 
shout my soul ! Grace, grace, free, sovereign, 
rich and unbounded grace ! Not I, not I, an 
ill -deserving, hell-deserving creature ! But, 
where sin abounded, I trust grace super- 
abounds. Some hope! — what joy in that 
hope ! — that nothing shall separate my soul 
from the love of God in Christ Jesus ; and 
my soul ! as such a frame is thy delight, 
pray frequently and fervently, to the Father 
of spirits to bless his word, and your retired 
moments to your serious conduct in life." 

With such devout feelings, said Mr. James, 
did that remarkable man devote himself to 
his work of laborious and self-sacrificing 
benevolence. No one who peruses this ex- 
tract can fail to perceive the high order of 
his piety, and the distinctly Calvinistic type 
of his Theology. In a paper written a few 
months after the date of this extract from 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 237 

his diary, he made a formal and solemn 
dedication of himself to God in this benefi- 
cent and extraordinary course of life, and at 
several subsequent periods, he perused the 
document, and renewed his covenant en- 
gagement. This paper breathes the same 
pious spirit, and indicates the same theologi- 
cal views as his diary. It is dated at Naples, 
May 27, 1770. You may read the latter 
half of this solemn covenant. Henry read 
as follows : 

"Oh, magnify the Lord, my soul, and my 
spirit, rejoice in God my Saviour ! His free 
grace, unbounded mercy, love unparalleled, 
goodness unlimited. And oh, this mercy, 
this love, this goodness exerted for me ! 
Lord God, why me ? When I consider, and 
look into my heart, I doubt, I tremble. Such 
a vile creature, sin, folly, and imperfection 
in every action ! Oh, dreadful thought ! — a 
body of sin and death I carry about me, 
ever ready to depart from God, and with all 
the dreadful catalogue of sins committed, my 
heart faints within me, and almost despairs. 



238 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

But yet, my soul, why art thou cast 
down? why art thou disquieted ? Hope in 
God ! His free grace in Jesus Christ ! Lord, 

I believe ; help my unbelief." " 

compassionate and divine Redeemer, save 
me from the dreadful guilt and power of sin, 
and accept my solemn, free, and, I trust, un- 
reserved full surrender of my soul, my 
spirit, my dear child, all I am and have, 
unto thy hands ! Unworthy of thy accept- 
ance ! Yet, Lord God of mercy, spurn 
me not from thy presence ; accept of me, 
vile as I am — I hope a repenting, returning 
prodigal. I glory in my choice, acknow- 
ledge my obligations as a servant of the Most 
High God, and now may the Eternal God be 
my refuge, and thou, my soul, faithful to 
that God that will never leave or forsake 

thee I" " Thus, O my Lord and my 

God, is humbly bold even a worm to cove- 
nant with thee ! Do thou ratify and con- 
firm it, and make me the everlasting monu- 
ment of thy unbounded mercy. Amen, 
amen , amen. Glory to God the Father, God the 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 239 

Son, and God the Holy Ghost, for ever and 

ever, amen I" " Hoping my heart 

deceives me not, and trusting in His mercy 
for restraining and preventing grace, though 
rejoicing in returning what I have received of 
him into his hands, yet with fear and trembling, 
I sign my worthless name. John Howard." 

When Henry James had finished reading 
these several extracts, he said, with manifest 
emotion, I perceive, father, what Calvinism 
is, when it takes hold of the heart as w r ell as 
the head ; and I cannot refrain from ex- 
pressing my love and admiration for that 
system of religious faith which yields such 
fruits as these. Principles which produce 
such deep humility ; such exalted adoration 
toward God, and such entire consecration of 
the heart and life to his service, must be 
Divine. 

Mr. James responded, Your mode of 
reasoning, my son, is correct. A tree is known 
by its fruit. An experimental belief in the 
doctrines of grace produces the highest order 
of piety known in the world. The reason 



240 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

is, that a belief in these doctrines, if it be 
cordial and saving, developes the religious 
character, after the true Scriptural model 
of moral excellence. The grand idea of 
God's word is salvation by grace ; and a 
believing reception of this truth is made 
effectual through the agency of the Holy 
Spirit, to the sanctification of the soul, and 
the production of a corresponding outward 
conduct. 

The evening was now closed, as usual, by 
engaging in family worship. The hymn 
sung concluded with the following stanzas: 

Here at that cross where flows the blood 
That bought my guilty soul to God, 
Thee my new Master now I call, 
And consecrate to thee my all. 
Do thou assist a feeble worm, 
The great engagement to perform ; 
Thy grace can full assistance lend, 
And on that grace I dare depend. 



CONVERSATION VII. 

THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 

On the following Sabbath evening, Henry 
James remarked to his father, I was greatly- 
interested in your sermon to-day ; it had so 
much grace in it ; and the closing hymn too 
was so precious ! and I thought I never heard 
the congregation sing with more anima- 
tion and delight ! But, father, I was sur- 
prised to hear A — B — say, as we walked 
home together ; that he would have enjoyed 
the preaching and the hymn better, if they 
had not contained the doctrine, "once in grace 
always in grace." He said he did not believe 
this doctrine ; that if he could believe this, 
he should not care what kind of a life he 
might live, because he would be sure of 
getting to heaven any how. 

21 (241) 



242 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ERRONEOUS VIEWS CONCERNING THIS DOC- 
TRINE — ADVICE OF A CLERGYMAN. 

Mr. James replied, This young man enter- 
tains very erroneous views concerning the 
doctrine of the saints' perseverance, as un- 
derstood by those who hold it. His objec- 
tion assumes, when fully analyzed, not that 
being once in grace we are always in grace, 
but that we get to heaven without any grace 
at all. No person who has felt the power of 
divine grace in his heart, could express un- 
derstandingly the profane and impious sen- 
timent, contained in the words of A — B — . 
His language is a virtual declaration, that if 
he were certain God would not send him to 
hell, he would prefer a life of sin to a life of 
holiness. This kind of perseverance is not 
the perseverance of saints, but of uncon- 
verted sinners ; and if persisted in, it will 
lead to inevitable perdition. A clergyman 
of my acquaintance, now deceased, who, 
though not a Presbyterian, held to the doc- 
trine of the saints' perseverance, was once 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 243 

asked, whether he believed that true Chris- 
tians could fall from grace. He replied, " I 
advise you not to try." He meant that if a 
person is willing to try, this very circum- 
stance places in doubt the genuineness of 
his Christian experience ; or rather it settles 
the question that he has never met with a 
saving change. 

THE QUESTION OF PERSEVERANCE TRULY 
STATED. 

The doctrine of the saints' perseverance is 
based on the supposition that the persons in 
question are the subjects of a saving change 
of heart, that they are genuine Christians. 
To talk about the perseverance of saints in 
such terms as necessarily imply that the in- 
dividuals in question are not saints, but un- 
regenerated sinners, is absurd. The proper 
question, and the only proper one, in 
stating the real point for discussion, is, 
whether all whom God has effectually called 
by his grace, and savingly renewed by his 
Spirit, will persevere in holiness till they ar- 



244 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

rive at heaven ; or whether, being thus re- 
generated, they may not by apostasy be- 
come unregenerate again, and be eternally 
lost. The same question may be stated in 
other words, thus : whether all those who 
have been enabled by Divine grace to believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, by a true and sav- 
ing faith, and to exercise a sincere and holy 
love to God, will continue thus to believe in 
Christ and to love God, through their whole 
lives, and be eternally saved. Or whether 
they may not totally fall from this state of 
grace, become unbelievers, and enemies to 
God, and be acordingly doomed to everlast- 
ing perdition. 

WHAT THE DOCTRINE OF PERSEVERANCE AS- 
SUMES — A PREACHER COMPLAINED OF. 

One of the essential evidences of our being 
true Christians, continued Mr. James, is that 
we hate sin and love holiness. A pious life 
will be our delight. Our habitual desires 
will be to please God, and it will be our earn- 
est and daily wish and prayer to be conformed 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 245 

to his holy image. The perseverance of the 
saints assumes all this, and hence, in con- 
versing on this subject, we must begin with 
the scriptural characteristics of a saving 
change of heart; because regeneration is the 
starting point from which the Divine life 
commences, and without that, there cannot 
be, properly speaking, any perseverance in 
holiness. If A — B — really feels as his lan- 
guage seems to indicate, he is a stranger to 
experimental religion, and hence he does 
not understand or appreciate the doctrine 
of the saints' perseverance. Such a perse- 
verance as his objection implies, is as con- 
trary to the views of Calvinists, as it can be 
to Arminians. Cautions against sin, and 
exhortations to holiness, are as important 
and necessary in the view of those who re- 
ceive and properly understand this doctrine, 
as of those who reject it. Hence the rele- 
vancy of the reply which was made by a 
Calvinistic minister, when told that a par- 
ticular discourse of his was thought, by some 

of his hearers, to be inconsistent with the 
21* 



246 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

doctrine of the saints' perseverance. He 
replied : " They have mistaken the drift of 
my discourse; it was opposed to the perse- 
verance of sinners, but not to the persever- 
ance of saints." But I shall take further no- 
tice of this objection hereafter. 

The hymn to which A — B — objects, con- 
tinued Mr. James, contains the doctrine of 
perseverance ; but in a form so purely devo- 
tional, and so exactly in accordance with 
the inward experience and hopes of God's 
people, that I have never yet found a truly 
pious and devout person who did not de- 
light to repeat and sing it. The following 
is the hymn alluded to. It was composed 
by the Rev. John Newton, who regarded 
himself (and what Christian does not ?) as a 
miracle of God's grace. 

" Amazing grace ! how sweet the sound 
That saved a wretch like me ! 
I once was lost, but now am found, 
Was blind, but now I see. 
J Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, 
And grace my fears relieved ; 
How precious did that grace appear, 
The hour I first believed ! 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 247 

Through many dangers, toils, and snares, 

I have already come ; 
1 Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, 

And grace will lead me home. 

The Lord has promised grace to me, 

His word my hope secures ; 
He will my shield and portion be, 

As long as life endures. 

And when this flesh and heart shall fail, 

And mortal life shall cease, 
I shall possess within the veil, 

A life of joy and peace." 

A — B — admitted, said Henry, that this 
hymn is animating to the feelings, and that 
Christians generally delight to sing it ; but 
they do not reflect, he said, that the Scrip- 
tures make perseverance conditional; that 
God does not promise to keep us except we 
co-operate with him, indeed, that he is not 
able to save us without the concurrence of 
our own minds ; whereas this hymn, he said, 
bases our perseverance solely on God's pro- 
mises, without any conditions whatever. 



248 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

god's PROMISES A SAFE GROUND OF RE- 
LIANCE. 

Mr. James replied, God's promises are as 
safe a ground of reliance as we can possibly 
have ; and unless he is either unable or un- 
faithful to fulfil them, the blessings promised 
can never fail. To limit the power of the 
Holy One of Israel is impious. The idea is 
so abhorrent to my views of God, that I 
feel more like rebuking its wickedness than 
proving its fallacy. The proof however is 
easy, both from reason and scripture. If God 
is able to implant the grace of faith at first 
in the hearts of sinners, he is able to preserve 
and keep alive that grace which he has him- 
self implanted. If he is able to deliver the 
soul at first from the power of the evil one, 
he is able afterwards to keep that soul from 
being seduced and destroyed by his wiles. Ad- 
mitting what A — B — asserts, that believers 
must co-operate with Divine grace, what 
then ? Their agency is not independent of 
God, but is under his absolute control. Their 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 249 

co-operation with him is no less the object 
of his care than their perseverance. The 
fallacious sentiment that God who created 
their souls at first, and created them anew 
in Christ Jesus, is unable to secure from 
them whatever co-operation is requisite 
to their perseverance in holiness, involves 
the denial of his supreme dominion over his 
creatures, and thereby robs him of his 
essential glory. 

GOD IS ABLE TO KEEP HIS PEOPLE FROM 
FALLING. 

The holy Scriptures, Mr. James remarked, 
distinctly assert God's ability to protect 
his people both from outward and inward 
foes, and to preserve them unto his heavenly 
kingdom. Our Lord says of his sheep, 
(John x. 29) that " none is able to pluck 
them out of his Father's hand." Paul was 
inspired to write, (Rom. viii. 38, 39,) " that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- 
cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 



250 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord." Again, (2 Tim. 
i. 12,) " I know whom I have believed, and 
am persuaded that he is able to keep that 
which I have committed unto him against 
that day." And again, (Jude 24,) " Unto 
him that is able to keep you from falling, 
and to present you faultless before the 
presence of his glory with exceeding joy." 
In these passages God's ability to save his 
people extends to the removal of every 
obstacle which can come in their way, in- 
cluding not only external enemies, but their 
own liability to declension. " He is able to 
keep them from falling." If he is able to 
keep their souls from the snare of the 
devil, and from all other outward foes, and 
is able also to preserve them from inward 
defection, there can be no possible ground 
for doubt concerning the saints' perseverance 
arising from the assumption of A — B — 
that God is unable to prevent his people 
from apostasy. This asumption is uttterly 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 251 

false. It is contrary both to sound reason 
and the word of God. 

I thank you, father, said Henry James, 
for this explanation. It is a great relief to 
my mind. The thought is to me a very 
gloomy one, of committing my soul to the 
keeping of a Being who is not able to pre- 
serve me, or the continuance of whose pro- 
tection depends on my feeble and imperfect 
endeavours. If, then, said Mr. James, God 
is able to keep his people from apostasy, the 
only questions which need be answered, in 
order to establish the doctrine of the perse- 
verance of the saints, are, Has God promised 
to keep them ? and, Is he faithful to fulfil 
his promises ? 

god's promises secure the perseverance 
of the saints. 

ThoseDivine promises which prove theper- 
severanceof the saints, are of two kinds, viz: 
those made to Christ with reference to his 
people, and those made directly to them. I 



252 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

will consider these promises, therefore, under 
two heads. 

1. The covenant of grace contains a pro- 
mise from God the Father to God the Son, 
that " he shall see of the travail of his soul, 
and shall be satisfied." Isa. liii. 11. Allud- 
ing to this transaction, Christ says, " This is 
the Father's will which hath sent me, that of 
all which he hath given me I should lose no- 
thing, but should raise it up again at the last 
day." John vi. 39. Again in our Lord's 
intercessory prayer, he alludes to the same 
transaction, saying, ( John xvii. 24,) " Father, 
I will that they also, whom thou hast given 
me, be with me where I am ; that they may 
behold my glory." This promise of the Father 
was made to the Son, in view of his " making 
his soul an offering for sin, on account of 
which he should see his seed, &c." Christ ful- 
filled the terms of this covenant, and just be- 
fore he offered himself, he expressed his will 
to his Father, that all his people, both those 
who had already believed on him, and those 
who would afterwards believe, should be ad- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 253 

mitted to his glory. What stronger security 
for their perseverance and final salvation 
could have been given, than is contained in 
this Divine record? 

Agreeably to this covenant, our Lord said, 
" My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, 
and they follow me : and I give unto them 
eternal life; and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any man pluck them out of my 
hand. My Father, which gave them me is 
greater than all; and no man is able to 
pluck them out of my Father's hand." Again, 
"This is the Father's will which hath sent 
me, that of all which he hath given me, I 
should lose nothing, but should raise it up 
again at the last day." Language cannot teach 
more plainly than is done here, that the will 
of God the Father, and of God the Son, con. 
cur in securing for all believers, supplies of 
grace on earth, and admission to eternal 
glory in heaven. If you are sure, Henry, 
of belonging to the household of faith, you 

have an interest in that covenant, and may 

22 



254: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

enjoy the comfort and security of the pro- 
visions and promises contained in it : 

rt For all that come to God by him, 
Salvation he demands : 
Points to their names upon his breast, 
And spreads his wounded hands. 

His sweet atoning sacrifice 

Gives sanction to his claim : 
Father, I will that all my saints 

Be with me where I am. 

Eternal life, at his request, 

To every saint is given : 
Safety on earth, and after death 

The plenitude of heaven. " 

2. But further : similar promises to that 
which was made by God the Father to his 
Son, securing the salvation of believers, 
are made likewise directly by God to his 
people. " When God made promise to Abra- 
ham," says Paul, ( Heb. vi. 13 — 19,) " because 
he could swear by no greater, he sware by 
himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless 
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 
And so after that he had patiently endured, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 255 

he obtained the promise. For men verily 
swear by the greater ; and an oath for con- 
firmation is to them an end of all strife. 
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to 
show unto the heirs of promise the immut- 
ability of his counsel, confirmed it by an 
oath ; that by two immutable things in which 
it was impossible for God to lie, we might 
have a strong consolation who have fled for 
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before 
us : which hope we have as an anchor of the 
soul, both sure and steadfast, and which en- 
tereth into that within the veil." In this 
passage, God's promise, made directly to his 
people, is expressed in the strongest terms ; 
and unless we distrust his faithfulness, there 
can be no ground for doubting the persever- 
ance of the saints. 

In the same epistle, ( chap. xiii. 5,) are 
these words: "He [God] hath said, I will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee." The 
original is remarkably emphatic. It contains 
five negatives, which in Greek serve to in- 
crease the force of the expression, and to 



256 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

make the promise more and more strong. 
The sense is well given in the last line of a 
stanza we often sing : 

u The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
I will not, I will not desert to his foes ; 
That soul though all hell should endeavour to shake, 
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake.' ■ 

If you will turn to this passage in the 
Greek Testament, (you have some know- 
ledge of Greek,) you will perceive that the 
last line of this stanza, containing five nega- 
tives, is almost an exact translation of the 
words of Paul. It is no wonder that the 
apostle, in view of such an assurance, should 
add, in the next verse, "So that we may 
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I 
will not fear what man shall do unto me." 
Nor is it strange that the apostle Peter, with 
the infinite fountain of gospel grace before 
him, should call God's promises to his peo- 
ple exceeding great and precious. " Whereby 
are given unto us exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises, that by these ye might be 
partakers of the divine nature." Again I 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 257 

say, God's promises secure the spiritual 
safety and final salvation of all true be- 
lievers, provided his faithfulness does not 
fail. 

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FULFIL HIS PROMISES. 

God's faithfulness ! exclaimed Henry. You 
make me almost shudder, father, by suggest- 
ing even the possibility of God's being un- 
faithful to fulfil his promises. 

I have not designed to suggest this, said 
Mr. James, but on the contrary, to express 
more strongly the certainty of the saints' 
perseverance, by alluding to so impossible a 
consequence as must follow the opposite' be- 
lief, viz : that it makes God an unfaithful 
being. One of the texts just quoted, assures 
us that " it is impossible for God to lie ;" 
and in another passage Paul says, with 
a direct reference to the sanctification 
and salvation of believers, (1 Thess. v. 23, 
24,) "Faithful is he that calleth you, who 
also will do it." 

22* 



258 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

IF WE CONFIDE IN THE WORD OF A FRIEND, 
WHY NOT IN GOD'S ? — A TOUCHING ILLUS- 
TRATION. 

We confide in the veracity of our fellow 
men. Our belief that they will be faithful 
to their promises, is the foundation of all 
credit in business. Especially is the word 
of a parent, or other friend, fully confided 
in, as affording a most reliable expectation 
of promised good. A touching instance of 
this was recently published in New Orleans, 
where the pestilence has rendered desolate 
so many households. One of those good 
Samaritans, who devoted much time to offi- 
ces of mercy, found a boy one morning lying 
on the sidewalk, in an unfrequented street, 
evidently bright and intelligent, but sick. 
He shook him by the shoulder, and asked 
him what he was doing there. " Waiting 
for God to come for me," said he. " What 
do you mean ?" said the gentleman, touched 
by the pathetic tone of the answer, and the 
condition of the boy, in whose eye and 
flushed face he saw the evidences of the 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 259 

fever. "God sent for mother, and father, 
and little brother," said he, " and took them 
away to his home, up in the sky ; and 
mother told me, when she was sick, that 
God would take care of me. I have no 
home, nobody to give me anything, and so 
I came out here, and have been looking so 
long up in the sky for God to come and take 
care of me, as mother said he would. He 
will come, won't he ? Mother never told 
me a lie." u Yes, my lad," said the man, 
overcome with emotion ; " he has sent me to 
take care of you." His eyes flashed, and the 
smile of triumph broke over his face as he 
said, " Mother never told me a lie, sir ; but 
you've been so long on the way." What a 
lesson of trust, and how this incident shows 
the effect of never deceiving children with 
idle tales ! As the poor mother expected, 
when she told her son, " God would take 
care of him," he did, by touching the heart 
of this benevolent man with compassion 
and love to the little stranger. 

If a child, said Mr. James, could thus con- 



260 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

fide in the veracity of a deceased mother, shall 
not God's children rely on his faithfulness ? 
What if the wicked inquire scoffingly : 
"Where is the promise of his coming?" 
let his people rest with confidence on his 
unfailing word. " It is impossible for God 
to lie." And his promise is not " yea and 
nay, but yea and amen," that is, not equivo- 
cal and uncertain, but clear and determinate ; 
fully justifying the confidence of Paul in 
saying, " I know in whom I have believed, 
and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
that which I have committed to him against 
that day." And again, " There is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day ; and not to me only, but unto all 
them also that love his appearing." 

Henry James remarked, One of the hymns 
sung at church to-day, suggests the in- 
quiry, whether God's promises made to his 
church are to be interpreted in the same way 
as those made to individual believers. 

Mr. James replied, When God promises 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 261 

that "the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against his church," he refers to his church 
collectively rather than individually; and so 
in other similar promises. By thus promis- 
ing the church's safety, he means that he will 
preserve and perpetuate a body of true 
believers on earth ; in other words, that he 
will always have a seed to serve him. But 
as the church is composed of individual 
members, those promises are applicable to 
them ; and when so applied, they must be 
understood as belonging to those only who 
possess, as well as profess, faith in Christ. 
Taken in this sense, the words of the hymn 
to which you refer, though spoken concern- 
ing Sion, may be appropriated by all indi- 
vidually, who have scriptural evidence of 
being christians. The first part of the hymn 
is as follows : 

Glorious things of thee are spoken, 

Sion, city of our God ; 
He whose word cannot be broken, 

Formed thee for his own abode. 



262 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

On the Rock of ages founded, 
What can shake thy sure repose ? 

With salvation's walls surrounded, 
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes. 

See the streams of living waters, 

Springing from eternal love, 
Well supply thy sons and daughters, 

And all fear of want remove. 

OTHER SCRIPTURE PROOFS OF THE DOCTRINE 
OF PERSEVERANCE. 

The promises of God, continued Henry, 
are quite sufficient to satisfy me of the truth 
of this doctrine ; but are there not, father, 
other scripture proofs which are equally 
valid ? 

Most certainly, said Mr. James; proofs 
which are so explicit and decided, that they 
would be conclusive, if the promises which 
relate to this subject were not found in the 
Bible. But the consideration of these pro- 
mises has been so interesting to me, and im- 
perceptibly occupied so much time, that I 
can only specify, in the present conversation, 
several of those other proofs, without a great 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 263 

deal of remark. You can reflect upon them 
at your leisure. 

THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION PROVES PERSE- 
VERANCE. 

Those texts which teach the doctrine of 
election, said Mr. James, prove also the per- 
severance of the saints. " We are bound," 
says Paul, "to give thanks always to God 
for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, be- 
cause God hath from the beginning chosen 
you to salvation, through sanctification of the 
Spirit, and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. 

This text teaches that their being chosen 
of God to salvation included their sanctifi- 
cation, and their sanctification is so con- 
nected with their salvation as necessarily to 
involve their perseverance in holiness. To 
the same effect, Peter says, " Give diligence 
to make your calling and election sure : for 
if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 
2 Pet. i. 10. These words contain two im- 
portant and connected truths, viz : that by 
making our calling sure, we make sure our 



264: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

election, and by making sure both our calling 
and election, we render it certain that we 
11 shall never fall." Accordingly he adds in 
the next verse, u For so an entrance shall be 
ministered unto you abundantly into the 
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ." I shall converse with 
you on the subject of election hereafter ; but 
according to any view of election which I 
have ever heard taken, it proves the saints' 
perseverance. Even Arminians hold that per- 
sons are elected when they believe, if not 
before; and Peter affirms that such " shall 

NEVER FALL." 

THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE MAY BE PROVED 
FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD — DR. NET- 
TLETON. 

Again, the knowledge of God, which is 
infinite and eternal, furnishes a valid proof 
of the saints' perseverance. Dr. Nettleton 
once heard a person say, "I believe that the 
doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance has 
been the means of filling hell with Chris- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 265 

tians." "Sir," said Dr. N., "do you believe 
that God knows all things ?" " Certainly I 
do," said he. "How then, do you interpret 
that text — 'I never knew you?" 7 " said Dr.N. 
After reflecting a moment, he replied, 
" The meaning must be, I never knew you 
as Christians." "Is that the meaning?" 
said Dr. N. " Yes, it must be," he replied, 
"for certainly God knows all things." 
" Well," said Dr. N., " I presume you are 
right. Now this is what our Saviour will 
say to those who, at the last day, shall say 
to him, 'Lord, Lord, have we not eaten, 7 &c. 
Now, when Saul, and Judas, and Hymeneus, 
and Philetus, and Demas, and all who you 
suppose are fallen from grace, shall say to 
Christ, 'Lord, Lord 7 — he will say to them, 1 1 
never knew you — I never knew you as 
Christians. 7 Where then are the Christians 
that are going to hell ?" 

THE POWER OF GOD SECURES THE PERSEVER- 
ANCE OF THE SAINTS. 

Further: the power of God is continually 

2o 



266 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

exerted to keep believers from totally fall- 
ing from grace. According to Peter, (1 
Pet. i. 5.) they are " kept by the power of 
God, through faith unto salvation." How 
strong and emphatic is this language ! It 
involves the assertion that their persons are 
kept, and their graces are kept ; that they 
are kept by the power of God — outwardly 
by the power of his Providence, and in- 
wardly by the power of his Spirit — and that 
he continues his powerful guardianship over 
them and in them, till grace is made perfect 
in glory. 

Ci Grace will complete what grace begins, 
To save from sorrows and from sins ; 
The work that wisdom undertakes, 
Eternal mercy ne'er forsakes." 

THE ADOPTION OF BELIEVERS INTO THE FA- 
MILY OF GOD PROVES THEIR PERSEVERANCE 
IN GRACE. 

Again, believers are adopted into the 
family of God, and sustain thereby the rela- 
tion of children, and this is mentioned in 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 267 

Scripture as a ground of the certainty of their 
final salvation. Paul calls it " the adoption 
of children by Jesus Christ." "And if 
children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint 
heirs with Christ." So confident was he 
that they would become partakers of the 
heavenly inheritance, that he says, " I am 
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
The grounds of this assurance are: 1, that 
adoption is God's act, not ours ; 2, that it is 
an act of free grace, and not of debt ; 3, that 
he does not adopt sinners into his family, 
till he gives them a new nature ; and 4, that 
those whom he adopts are made younger 
brethren of the same household, in which. 
Christ is the elder brother. Consequently 
they are not only heirs of God, but joint 
heirs with Christ, who is the head and re- 
presentative of the " many brethren," among 



268 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

whom he is said to be the " first born." 
Having ascended on high, he prepared for 
them mansions in his Father's house, and he 
will hold them in reserve till the last saint 
shall reach his eternal home. " Behold, 
what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us, that we should be called 

the sons of God." " Beloved, now 

are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be : but we know that 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; 
for we shall see him as he is." " I will come 
again," said Christ, " and receive you unto 
myself; that where I am, there ye may be 
also." 

THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS IS SE- 
CURED by Christ's intercession. 

The intercession of Christ in behalf of his 
people secures their perseverance in grace. 
This is involved in my remarks about the 
covenant of redemption ; but it is enti- 
tled to a separate consideration. Our Lord 
said to Peter, " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 269 

hath desired to have you, that he may sift 
you as wheat : but I have prayed for thee, 
that thy faith fail not: and when thou 
art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 
Satan has always desired to have Christ's 
followers ; but his intercession for them 
prevents their faith from failing. It may 
partially fail, as Peter's did ; but as Christ's 
prayer secured his conversion, that is, his 
recovery from his grievous fall, so it se- 
cures the repentance and restoration of all 
true believers, who, through sudden tempta- 
tion, and the infirmities of the flesh, fall into 
sin. As David says, speaking of a good 
man, " Though he fall, he shall not be ut- 
terly cast down ; for the Lord upholdeth 
him, with his hand." 

You must not infer, said Mr. James, that 
because Christ intercedes for his people, and 
thereby prevents them from ruining their 
souls by total apostasy, therefore their back- 
slidings are any the less offensive to him ; 
or that real Christians will regard his inter- 
cession as affording any encouragement or 
23* 



270 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

excuse to neglect their duty. If, in partic- 
ular cases, it has the effect to produce sloth 
and sinful indulgence, such persons furnish 
painful evidence of being strangers to vital 
piety. They possess that temper of mind 
which would lead them to imitate Peter in his 
fall, but not in his repentance. Genuine be- 
lievers hate sin, and therefore will not indulge 
in it, under the impression that they will be re- 
stored in due time. This will further appear 
in considering the next proof, the only other 
I shall give at present, of the saints' perse- 
verance. 

THE NATURE OF REGENERATION SHOWS 
THE CERTAINTY OF PERSEVERANCE IN 
GRACE, — A MINISTER'S VIEWS CHANGED. 

Lastly, perseverance in grace is rendered 
certain from the nature of regeneration. 
Says John, (2 John iii. 9,) " Whosoever is 
born of God doth not commit sin ; for his 
seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin, 
because he is born of God." The sense of 
this passage is, that the true born child of 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 271 

God does not sin willingly and deliberately, 
and to his utter ruin, like unregenerate per- 
sons. This new spiritual birth has reno- 
vated his moral nature, altered his moral 
taste and desire, and thus rendered it mo- 
rally impossible for him to commit sin 
from choice, and with satisfaction and de- 
light, as he had previously done. And as 
this new birth is heavenly and Divine, the 
germ or seed of Divine grace ever remains 
in his heart, until it is perfected in heaven. 

A minister of my acquaintance, Mr. A., 
who once belonged to a church holding 
Arminian views, was convinced of the truth 
of the Calvinistic creed, and particularly of 
the saints' perseverance, by reflecting upon 
this text. He has been preaching the gospel 
for many years, in connection with a Calvin- 
istic body. I have heard him say that he 
had been accustomed to quote this text, to 
prove the doctrine of Christian perfection. 
But he perceived at length ; that if it teaches 
Christian perfection, it proves not merely 
that perfection is attainable, but that this is 



272 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN". 

essential to a state of grace. " He that com- 
mitteth sin is of the devil. Whosoever is 
born of God cannot sin, because he is born 
of God." This interpretation, viz: that it 
is impossible for Christians to sin, was so con- 
trary to other parts of Scripture, that he was 
obliged to abandon it. What then was the 
import of the passage? He perceived on 
further reflection that it contains a valid 
proof of the doctrine of the saints' persever- 
ance. It must mean, said he, that they who 
are born of God do not sin wilfully, as unre- 
generate men do ; and that they cannot be- 
come utter apostates, as hypocrites do ; be- 
cause the seed of Divine grace remaineth in 
them, inasmuch as God, who planted it there, 
preserves it alive in their hearts, and thus 
prevents them from falling away. Such was 
Mr. A.'s exposition, and I doubt not, it is 
correct. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

Henry James expressed much satisfaction 
with these scripture proofs ; and then said, 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 273 

You know, father, that some persons inter- 
% pret these 'texts in a very general and qual- 
ified sense ; in order, as they say, to make 
them harmonize with the conditions, cautions, 
and exhortations, which are contained in 
other passages which relate to this subject ; 
such as the following : " Now the just shall ' 
live by faith ; but if any man draw back, 
my soul shall have no pleasure in him." 
Heb. x. 38. " Take heed, brethren, lest there 
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, 
in departing from the living God." Heb. iii. 

12. " Abide in me, and I in you 

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as 
a branch, and is withered." John xv. 4, 6. 
These texts, they maintain, imply the possi- 
bility of falling from grace, and hence the 
former passages must be understood in con- 
sistency with these. 

Mr. James replied, All parts of God's word 
are harmonious, and they must be interpreted 
by comparing them with each other. But 
if the general tenor of Divine truth is in 
favour of the doctrine of the saints' persever- 



274: THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

ance, and not of falling from grace, as I 
verily believe ; then instead of assuming that 
those texts, which seem to imply the possi- 
bility of falling away, certainly teach this, 
and then endeavouring to make all appa- 
rently contrary passages bend to suit this 
view of the subject ; it is far more agreeable 
to sound criticism, to inquire whether those 
texts which appear to imply the possibility 
of total apostasy do not, when rightly un- 
derstood, fully accord with the doctrine of 
the perseverance of the saints. 

THE RELEVANCY AND IMPORTANCE OF CAU- 
TIONS AND EXHORTATIONS. 

Mr. James further remarked : The co- " 
operation of human and Divine agency in 
the believer's progress in holiness, which the 
Bible clearly teaches, furnishes a key to the 
true interpretation of those cautions, warn- 
ings, and exhortations which you have 
quoted, and all others of a similar character. 
God treats his people as moral agents. He 
requires them to use the means of grace. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 275 

He warns them against sin. And their 
perseverance in holiness is carried on by 
their habitual attention to these Divine cau- 
tions, exhortations, and counsels. Hence we 
perceive their relevancy, their importance, 
their necessity. But in connection with 
these, God also teaches them that the grace 
of perseverance is his gift, and that in the 
circumstance of their dependence on him, 
they have their strongest motive for watch- 
fulness and prayer, and for diligence in every 
christian duty. Thus he says, (Phil. ii. 12, 
13,) u Work out your own salvation with 
fear and trembling; for it is God which 
worketh in you both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure." Believers work out 
what God works in. " Being made free 
from sin, and become servants to God, they 
have their fruit unto holiness, and the end 
•everlasting life." Eom. vi. 22. 

I have heard it asserted, father, said Henry, 
that some persons who had actually experi- 
enced religion, have lost it, and hence the 



276 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

possibility of falling from grace is placed 
beyond doubt. 

Mr. James replied, I have also seen per- 
sons who professed to have met with a 
change, and yet afterwards became irreli- 
gious. But their change was not radical. 
" They went out from us, ( 1 John ii. 19,) 
but they were not of us ; for if tbey had 
been of us, they would no doubt have con- 
tinued with us: but they went out, that 
they might be made manifest that they 
were not all of us." A sow that is washed, 
is a swine still, and will return to her 
wallowing in the mire. 2 Pet. ii. 22. But 
suppose the nature of the animal to be 
changed, so that it is no longer a swine, but 
a sheep. You will not see it wallowing in 
the mire any more. " Every man," says 
John, " that hath this hope in him, [that is, 
that hath the hope in Christ which character- 
izes a child of God,] purifieth himself, even as 
he [Christ] is pure." As I before stated, 
the grace of Christians may sometimes de- 
cline ; and they may become cold and neg- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 277 

ligent. But their backslidings are only tem- 
porary. They are uneasy in that state ; and 
with the prayer of David hourly sent up to 
God, " Eestore unto me the joy of thy salva- 
tion, and uphold me with thy free spirit," 
they are sooner or later restored to their 
first love. 

Henry James remarked again, I have 
heard it argued, if Adam fell from a state 
of perfect holiness, why may not Chris- 
tians, who are imperfect, fall from grace ? 

Mr. James responded, Adam was under 
the covenant of works ; but Christians are 
under the covenant of grace. There is a 
wide difference between the condition of 
Adam under the covenant of works, and of 
believers under the covenant of grace. Adam, 
before his fall, stood by his own personal 
strength ; believers by the power of God. 
He kept himself; they are sustained by di- 
vine grace. This difference is happily illus- 
trated by a remarkable dream of the Eev. 
John Newton, when he was a young man. 

Here it is, Henry, in Mr. Newton's own lan- 
24 



278 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

guage. Let me hear you read it. Henry- 
read as follows : 

AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE DIFFERENCE BE- 
TWEEN THE STANDING OF ADAM, AND THAT 
OF BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, BY JOHN NEW- 
TON'S DREAM. 

The scene presented to my imagination, 
was the harbour of Yenice, where we had 
lately been. I thought it was night, and 
my watch upon the deck, and that, as I was 
walking to and fro by myself, a person 
came to me (I do not remember from whence) 
and brought me a ring, with an express 
charge to keep it carefully ; assuring me 
that while I preserved that ring, I should 
be happy and successful ; but if I lost, or 
parted with it, I must expect nothing but trou- 
ble and misery. I accepted the present and 
the terms willingly, not in the least doubt- 
ing my own care to preserve it, and highly 
satisfied to have my happiness in my own 
keeping. I was engaged in these thoughts, 
when a second person came to me, and ob- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 279 

serving the ring on my finger, took occasion 
to ask me some questions concerning it. I 
readily told him its virtues, and his answer 
expressed a surprise at my weakness, in 
expecting such effects from a ring. I think 
he reasoned with me for some time upon 
the impossibility of the thing, and at length 
urged me, in direct terms, to throw it away. 
At first I was shocked at the proposal, but 
his insinuation prevailed. I began to rea- 
son and doubt of the matter myself, and at 
last plucked it off my finger, and dropped 
it over the ship's side into the water, which 
it had no sooner touched, than I saw, the 
same instant, a terrible fire burst out from a 
range of mountains (a part of the Alps) 
which appeared at some distance behind the 
city of Venice. I saw the hills as distinctly 
as if awake, and they were all in flames. I 
perceived too late my folly ; and my tempter, 
with an air of insult, informed me that all the 
mercy God had in reserve for me was com- 
prised in that ring, which I had wilfully 
thrown away. I understood that I must 



280 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

now go with him to the burning mountains, 
and that all the flames I saw, were kindled 
upon my account. I trembled, and was in 
a great agony ; so that it was surprising I did 
not then awake, but my dream continued, 
and when I thought myself upon the point 
of a constrained departure, and stood self- 
condemned, without plea or hope, suddenly, 
either a third person, or the same who 
brought me the ring at first, came to me, (I 
am not certain which,) and demanded the 
cause of my grief. I told him the plain 
case, confessing that I had ruined myself 
wilfully, and deserved no pity. He blamed 
my rashness, and asked if I should be wiser, 
supposing I had my ring again. I could 
hardly answer to this ; for I thought it was 
gone beyond recall. I believe, indeed, I had 
not time to answer, before I saw this unex- 
pected friend go down under the water, just 
in the spot where I had dropped it, and he 
soon returned bringing the ring with him. 
The moment he came on board, the flames 
in the mountains were extinguished, and 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 281 

my seducer left me. Then was * the prey 
taken from the hand of the mighty, and the 
lawful captive delivered.' My fears were at 
an end, and with joy and gratitude I ap- 
proached my kind deliverer to receive the 
ring again ; but he refused to return it, and 
spoke to this effect: 'If you should be en- 
trusted with this ring again, you would very 
soon bring yourself into the same distress. 
You are not able to keep it ; but I will pre- 
serve it for you, and whenever it is needful, 
will produce it in your behalf.' Upon this 
I awoke in a state of mind not to be de- 
scribed : I could hardly eat, or sleep, or 
transact my necessary business for two or 
three days ; but the impression soon wore off, 
and in a little time I totally forgot it, and I 
think it hardly occurred to my mind again, till 
several years afterwards. It will appear, in the 
course of these papers, that a time came, 
when I found myself in circumstances very 
nearly resembling those suggested by this 
extraordinary dream, when I stood helpless 
and hopeless upon the brink of an awful 

21* 



282 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

eternity, and I doubt not but, had the eyes 
of my mind been opened, I should have seen 
my grand enemy, who had seduced me wil- 
fully to renounce and cast away my reli- 
gious profession, and to involve myself in 
the most complicated crimes; I say, I should 
probably have seen him pleased with my 
agonies, and waiting for a permission to 
seize and bear away my soul to this place 
of torment. I should perhaps have seen 
likewise, that Jesus, whom I had persecuted 
and defied, rebuking the adversary, chal- 
lenging me for his own, as a brand plucked 
out of the fire, and saying, ( Deliver him 
from going down to the pit ; I have found a 
ransom !' However, though I saw not these 
things, I found the benefit; I obtained mercy. 
The Lord answered for me in the day of my 
distress ; and blessed be his name, he who 
restored the ring (or what was signified by 
it) vouchsafes to keep it. Oh, what an un- 
speakable comfort is this, that lam not in my 
own keeping! L The Lord is my shepherd:' 
I have been able to trust my all in his 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 283 

hands, and I know in whom I have believed. 
Satan still desires to have me, that he might 
sift me as wheat ; but my Saviour has prayed 
for me, that my faith may not fail. Here is 
my security and reliance ; a bulwark, against 
which the gates of hell cannot prevail. But 
for this, many a time and often (if possible), 
I should have ruined myself since my first 
deliverance ; nay, I should fall, and stumble, 
and perish still, after all that the Lord has 
done for me, if his faithfulness was not en- 
gaged in my behalf, to be my sun and 
shield even unto death. ' Bless the Lord, O 
my soul.' " 

PRACTICAL TENDENCY OF THE DOCTRINE OF 
THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. 

When Henry James had finished reading 
this narrative, he said, I am entirely con- 
vinced, father, of the truth of the doctrine of 
the saints' perseverance. Indeed I have 
been highly edified and delighted with this 
conversation on the subject. But if you are 
not fatigued, I should be pleased to hear you 



284 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

state your views concerning the practical 
tendency of this doctrine. I have heard it 
objected that it furnishes few if any motives 
to zeal, but on the contrary tends to sloth, 
and neglect of duty. 

I do not deny, said Mr. James, that some 
who believe this doctrine are negligent of 
their duty ; but I do deny that their negli- 
gence arises from their belief in the saints' 
perseverance ; unless indeed they entertain, 
like A — B — , erroneous views of what the 
doctrine is, and thus pervert it to their own 
destruction. Eemember that this doctrine 
is adapted to encourage saints in the divine 
life, and not to encourage sinners in a life 
of sin. So long as men are impenitent and 
unbelieving, this doctrine does not apply to 
them. When they have fled for refuge to 
lay hold upon the hope set before them in 
the gospel, then the doctrine of the saints' 
perseverance affords strong incentives to 
practical godliness. Assuming that they de- 
sire to lead holy lives, as genuine Christians al- 
ways do, this doctrine, so far from having a ten- 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 285 

dency to make them slothful, is adapted to ren- 
der them zealous and diligent in good works. 

1. The christian life is a work, a " patient 
continuance in well-doing;" in the perform- 
ance of which, how cheering it is to be as- 
sured on Divine authority, that our " labour 
will not be in vain in the Lord." 

2. The christian life is a race ; in the run- 
ning of which an encouraging motive to 
activity and perseverance is furnished by 
the confidence we feel that, through grace, 
we shall il so run as to obtain " the prize. 

3. The christian life is a warfare; and in 
fighting " the good fight of faith," how ani- 
mating it is to feel certain, with the apostle 
Paul, that we shall be " more than conquer- 
ors through Him that loved us !" 

4. The christian life is a course of filial 
obedience to God as our heavenly Father ; 
of sincere delight in his law, and an earnest 
habitual desire to serve and please him. 
With this state of mind, how well adapted 
to make us vigilant, prayerful, and obedient, 
is the belief that God will always exercise 



286 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

towards us a Father's love, and a Father's 
care; that he will keep us from dishonouring 
him by falling into temptation ; or if he 
permits us to be tempted, " he will make 
a way for our escape ;" that when necessary 
to protect or restore us from backsliding, he 
will rebuke and chastise us ; and that he 
will sustain, quicken, and sanctify us, until 
we are made meet for the promised inherit- 
ance. If we have no filial regard for our 
heavenly Father, that is, if we are bastards 
and not sons, our assurance of hope may 
influence us to neglect our duty. Just as 
a wicked and undutiful wretch, having the 
name of a son, might feel and say concerning 
a kind and generous father, " My father will 
not disinherit me, however much I may dis- 
please and dishonour him." But provided 
we have been really born of the Spirit and 
consequently possess the disposition of chil- 
dren, our assurance of God's continued and 
unchangeable love is adapted to enkindle in 
our souls a perpetual and ever increasing 
zeal in his service. 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 287 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRACTICAL TENDENCY 
OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. CROM- 
WELL — HAVELOCK. 

To illustrate these views, Mr. James re- 
marked, that certainty of success in any un- 
dertaking, operates as a strong incentive to 
vigorous exertion. Notice the course pur- 
sued by candidates for office in securing the 
votes of their friends. Their constant effort is 
to keep up the impression that their election 
is beyond all doubt. It is the same with the 
officers of an army, who act on the principle 
that their soldiers will be inspired with dou- 
ble courage, if they can make them feel sure 
of obtaining the victory. This feeling be- 
comes still more intense and influential, 
when it is founded on religious sentiment. 
Cromwell and his army derived their daily 
sustenance (I mean religiously) from the 
Bible, David's Psalms, and Calvinistic preach- 
ing; and one of the effects was, that in their 
conflicts with the English cavaliers, they 
never lost a battle. Havelock, whose name 



288 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

and memory are rendered illustrious by his 
energetic and successful attacks on the Se- 
poys of Northern India, was a pious man, 
and a firm Calvinist. He often prayed with 
his soldiers, and accompanied this exercise 
with instruction in the doctrines and pre- 
cepts of God's word. Though his conduct 
in this particular was displeasing to the 
other officers, yet he gained their confidence 
to such a degree, that in a previous war with 
the natives, when soldiers were needed for a 
difficult service, an officer in high command 
is reported to have said, " Call out the saints ; 
[meaning Havelockand his men;] Havelock 
never blunders, and his soldiers never get 
drunk." 

Mr. James remarked further, that the 
saints' perseverance is a comforting doctrine; 
and in this world of suffering and bereave- 
ment, the consolation which it affords is of 
inestimable value. 

" "Why should the soul a drop bemoan, 
Who has a fountain near, 
A fountain which shall ever run, 
With waters sweet and clear ? 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 289 

No good in creatures can be found, 

But may be found in thee : 
I must have all things and abound, 
While God is God to me." 

11 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." 
" The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not 
want. He maketh me to lie down in green 
pastures ; he leadeth me beside the still wa- 
ters. He restoreth my soul ; he leadeth me 
in the paths of righteousness for his name's 
sake. Yea, though I walk through the val- 
ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
evil ; for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy 
staff they comfort me." " Who shall separ- 
ate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribu- 
lation, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or 
sword ? Nay, in all these things we are 
more than conquerors, through him that 
loved us." 

These gracious assurances are like oil and 
wine to the hearts of believers, in their earth- 
ly trials and sufferings. They were the so- 
lace of Old Testament saints, when they were 

" destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the 
25 



290 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

world was not worthy." And in like man- 
ner they caused the primitive Christians 
" greatly to rejoice, though in heaviness 
through manifold temptations ; " knowing 
that the trial of their faith, being much 
more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried with fire, would be found 
unto praise, and honour, and glory at the ap- 
pearing of Jesus Christ." 

THE DOCTRINE OF PERSEVERANCE IS ADAPTED 
TO IMPRESS THE UNCONVERTED — ANECDOTE 
OF WHITEFIELD. 

To these thoughts, said Mr. James, I must 
not omit to add, that the hope and comfort 
contained in the doctrine of the saints' per- 
severance, are adapted to lead the uncon- 
verted to Christ. Though, as I said, this 
doctrine is for saints, and not for sinners, 
yet the Holy Spirit often makes use of the 
privileges of God's children to awaken and 
convert sinners. Hence this kind of preach- 
ing, listened to by the unconverted, is fre- 
quently as effective in producing a serious 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 291 

impression on their minds, as pungent and 
alarming discourses addressed directly to 
them. It has been related of the celebrated 
George Whitefield, who like Paul, " preached 
publicly, and from house to house," that he 
was providentially brought into the com- 
pany of a young preacher of the established 
church, during a violent storm of thunder 
and lightning. The young man, who, though 
a preacher by profession, had been hitherto 
a stranger to experimental religion, was 
much terrified by the storm. Whitefield, a 
decided Calvinist, as you probably know, 
spoke of the blessed security of believers in 
Christ, and of his own unbounded confi- 
dence in God as his covenant God and Ee- 
deemer; after which he repeated with great 
composure, and with remarkable sweetness 
of voice, these lines of Watts : 

" The God that rules on high, 
And thunders when he please ; 
That rides upon the stormy sky, 
And manages the seas : 



292 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

This awful God is ours ; 

Our Father and our love ; 
He will send down his heavenly powers, 

To carry us above." 

The effect on the young minister was 
most happy ; resulting, as was believed, in a 
saving change of heart, and in his becom- 
ing au earnest advocate of evangelical reli- 
gion. 

When Mr. James had closed these re- 
marks, Henry said, father, I wonder how 
any one can object to so glorious a doctrine ! 
Not only can I receive it as true, but I can 
rejoice in it as being suited to make us holy 
and happy. 

The family was now called together for 
worship, and at Henry's request, they sang 
the hymn commencing with the stanza, 

" The voice of free grace cries, Escape to the moun- 
tain, 
For Adam's lost race Christ has opened a fountain : 
For sin, and transgression, and every pollution, 
His blood flows most freely in streams of salvation. 
Hallelujah to the Lamb who has purchased our pardon, 
We will praise him again when we pass over Jordan." 



CONCLUSION. 

Two more conversations were prepared 
for publication in this volume ; one on Pre- 
destination, and the other on Grace and 
Comfort. But they will be deferred to form 
a part of a separate volume ; for the reason 
that their insertion here would make the 
book too thick for the size of the page. 
This discovery was not made till so much 
of the matter was in type as to render it in- 
expedient to change either the form or plan 
of the book. These two topics, and the two 
alluded to in the Preface, but not discussed 
for want of room, viz : Eepentance and 
Adoption, with one or two others, belong- 
ing to the same general subject, will constitute 
an appropriate sequel to the Gospel Fountain, 
and form together a connected view of the 

wonderful scheme of gospel grace. The 
25* (293) 



294 THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 

whole may be included in two words: Grace 
and Glory. It is grace in its origin, grace 
in each successive step of its development 
and progress, and grace in its glorious ter- 
mination in heaven. In other words, it is 
grace in the fountain, grace in the streams, 
and grace in the boundless ocean of eternal 
joy, in which the divine counsels of mercy 
gloriously terminate. 

What Paul said concerning the great fact 
of Christ's coming into the world to save sin- 
ners, may be applied to the whole scheme of 
redemption, doctrinal, experimental, and prac- 
tical : "This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation." The doctrines discussed 
in these pages are worthy of all acceptation, 
because they are true, and ought therefore 
to be received by all. And they ought also 
to be received because they are important as 
well as true. They are truths revealed by 
God for our salvation ; and their cordial re- 
ception, as to their essential features, is a 
matter of vital interest to all men. Dear 
youth, consider the importance of the gospel 



THE GOSPEL FOUNTAIN. 295 

9 

plan, and embrace it, not only in theory, 
but in its inward power and life; not with 
your understanding merely, but with your 
hearts. The chief value of the gospel con- 
sists in its power to save. But in order to 
this, it must be believed and obeyed, both 
in the heart and life. This is the sum of 
saving knowledge. " With the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness ; and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

The favourable time, dear youth, and per- 
haps the only time to attend to this great in- 
terest is the present. The gospel fountain 
is now open ; the streams of grace and salva- 
tion are now flowing along your path, and 
you are invited to drink and live. But the 
delay of a single week, a single day, or even 
a single hour, may essentially change your 
condition, by placing you for ever beyond the 
call of the gospel, Pardon is not offered to 
sinners after death. Trust in the Saviour 
now, and your eternal salvation is secured. 



23 Jtn i8(;«» 



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